48:. 



weather. The far larger bodies, however, occasionally observed, can scarcely be accounted for 

 in the same manner, of which a very memorable instance occurred near the coast in an adjoining 

 county, and is thus given by Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear : — ' Some years since, as two gentlemen 

 were sporting at Tunstall, in Suffolk, distant about five miles from the sea, they observed an 

 extraordinary flight of Jays passing in a single line from seaward towards the interior. This 

 line extended further than the eye could reach, and must have consisted of some thousands. 

 Several of them were killed as they passed ; but the firing at them did not occasion the rest to 

 deviate from their line of flight.' I have also observed these birds in some years to be extremely 

 plentiful in spring, and have known many pairs killed as late as the beginning of April, when 

 they may be supposed to pass us again on their return northwards." 



It is not uncommon in Scandinavia, as high as about 64° N. lat., or somewhat higher. Our 

 friend Mr. Collett records it as common in Norway, breeding from the lower portion of the 

 southern and eastern provinces up to Snaasen, in Trondhjem Stift (64° N. lat.) ; along the west 

 coast it is rarer, but has been observed at several places, such as Ryfylke (by Bahr), Etne in 

 Hardanger (by Sommerfeldt), at Bergen (by Koren), and at Nordfjord (by Krogh). On the fells 

 it disappears in the upper part of the fir-region. On the Swedish side it is met with about as 

 far north as in Norway ; and Wheelwright considered that it occasionally straggles into Lapland. 

 Dresser met with it commonly in all parts of Finland, where, according to Von Wright, it is 

 found throughout the year, even in the northern and central portions. Throughout the whole 

 of the forest-region of Russia it is, as Mr. Sabanaeff informs us, a common species, and is more 

 especially found in pine and oak woods. It is everywhere sedentary, or at least nearly so. 

 During the winter season it is tolerably rare in the Governments of Jaroslaf and Moscow ; but on 

 the Ural numbers are found at all seasons of the year. Mr. Sabanaeff informs us that the Jay 

 found in Perm, and even in Simbirsk and Kazan, is an intermediate species between 0. glandarius 

 of Europe and G. brandti from the Altai ; but specimens sent to us by him from the Ural belong 

 certainly to the latter species, and on comparison with typical examples of Brandt's Jay from 

 Japan we fail to find any difference. The Ural range is therefore, we conclude, the eastern 

 boundary of the range of the Common Jay ; and here it meets Garrulus brandti, which species 

 extends from the Ural through Siberia into Japan. Our Common Jay is a numerous species 

 throughout the Baltic Provinces, Poland, Germany, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France, 

 chiefly frequenting the non-evergreen woods and groves. Professor Barboza du Bocage records 

 it as common in Portugal ; and Major Irby informs us that it is " resident and abundant in the 

 Cork Wood, and to be met with on most of the wooded hills and mountain-sides in the vicinity of 

 Gibraltar. Occasionally seen in winter on the ' Rock,' though not regular in appearance. I only 

 saw them in the winters of 1870-71 and 1871-72." 



Mr. H. Saunders also writes that in Southern Spain it is " abundant in all wooded districts, 

 except those south of Seville, where I never met with it. Near Granada and further north it 

 breeds plentifully." In Southern France, Switzerland, Savoy, and Italy it is everywhere common 

 and, as elsewhere in Europe, sedentary. Mr. A. B. Brooke writes to us, saying that it is extremely 

 common in Sardinia at all seasons of the year ; and Dr. H. Giglioli states the same as regards the 

 neighbourhood of Pisa. Lord Lilford and Captain R. M. Sperling both found it abundant and 

 breeding in Epirus and Corfu ; and the various writers on the ornithology of Greece all agree in 



