477 



kook, followed by a series of noises which sounds like a conversation carried on by two or three 

 people in an unknown tongue. One puts up a family party off the ground where they have been 

 feasting on the berries ; and away they go through the trees with their wavering unsteady flight, 

 every here and there a gleam of sunshine catching their tails ; and turning them into gigantic 

 Eedstarts. Or when one halts for any purpose, there comes a Siberian Jay, at first stealthily ; but 

 soon, if he sees no sign of danger to him, and a possible legacy in the shape of scraps of food, 

 he displays himself openly, perching almost within arm's length, swinging his tail like a Bull- 

 finch, and turning his head on one side like a Redbreast or a Bluethroat, now erecting his crest 

 and ruffling his long loose plumage, now shaking it all compactly down, calling his neighbours if 

 there be an appearance of entertainment, talking to them as they approach, or thinking aloud if 

 they are slow to come. There is no wonder that these birds excite the attention of all whose 

 business is among the great forests of Lapland ; but, so far as I know, Mr. Wolley was of 

 opinion that they were never regarded by Lapps or Finns as birds of bad omen : on the contrary, 

 the woodsman who is discomfited by the call of Parus cinctus rather looks upon the Kukhainen 

 as a harbinger of good luck ; and the name of OlycJcsfogel, by which, according to Linnaeus, it is 

 known to Swedes, was most likely given to it by some wandering settler of that nation. Linnaeus, 

 in perpetuating the idea thereby conveyed, seems to have been disposed to revenge himself on the 

 species for its pilfering his provisions when he was in Lulea Lappmark ; and he adds to his notice 

 of it ' audacissima avis, quce nobis prandentibus scepe coram cibum abripuit '! I first made the 

 acquaintance of this bold robber in the valley of the Tana, and in my subsequent course was 

 always glad when I encountered it. At Muoniovaara I saw in situ the nest from which Ludwig 

 took the young birds whose mother liberated them from captivity as above mentioned." 



Mr. A. Benzon informs me that he possesses " several nests obtained in Lapland and Norway, 

 which are constructed outside of small twigs, dry straws, lichens, and marsh-cotton, and lined 

 with marsh-cotton. They measured outside from 170 millimetres in diameter by 70 millimetres 

 in height to 200 by 80 millimetres, inside about 75 millimetres diameter, and from 40 to 50 

 millimetres deep." I am indebted to Mr. Robert Collett for a very beautiful and well-preserved 

 nest of this bird obtained by him in Norway. This nest is built almost entirely of the long 

 pendent lichen (Usnea barbata) so common in the northern forests, twigs, chiefly of the larch 

 and pine, and a few roots. The lining is composed of the same lichen as is used in the construc- 

 tion of the foundation, and a few grass bents ; and here and there on the edge are pieces of a grey 

 paper-like wasps' nest placed as if for ornament. 



Fifteen eggs of the Siberian Jay in my collection vary in size from 1^ - by f^ to l-j§ by fl- 

 inch, and in colour from dirty white to pale greenish white, spotted and blotched with purplish 

 grey underlying shell-markings, and lighter or darker hair-brown surface spots, which are generally 

 dark, large, clearly defined. Though in one or two they are spread tolerably evenly over the 

 surface of the shell, they are, as a rule, collected closer round the larger end. 



The specimens figured and described are both in my own collection. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



