48 9 



woods which fringe the Amoor, but higher up that river they inhabit the oak woods and hazel 

 thickets. Eadde writes that in the winter they betake themselves to the well-sheltered wooded 

 valleys, and were found there in November. Where such localities were wanting, as on the 

 islands of the Onon, they took refuge in the densest thickets of Crataegus, Pyrios, Spirwa, &c. 

 Both in the Bureja mountains and on the lower Amoor some were found in January 1858 frozen 

 to death. He found two dead under his roof not far from the chimney. In the Bureja moun- 

 tains most were paired on the 21st of March in the spring of 1858. Von Schrenck states that 

 he never observed either G. glandarius or G. japonicus in Siberia, and does not believe that they 

 are ever found there. In Japan it appears to be by no means an uncommon bird. Captain 

 Blakiston obtained a young bird, probably a female, in October, in Northern Japan; and 

 Mr. Whitely also procured several near Hakodadi in October 1869, and states that they were 

 there common, and that he found them to vary considerably in size. Beyond this but little is 

 known respecting the range of this Jay ; and specimens are any thing but common in collections. 



In its habits, writes Mr. Sabanaeff, "it differs in no way from the Common Jay {Garrulus 

 glandarius), which occurs in the neighbourhood of Moscow ; so I need give you no further details 

 on this head. Very few are met with during the winter season, but almost all migrate to the 

 southward, the season of migration commencing about the end of August, and extending from 

 then to about the middle of November ; and during that season they may continually be heard, 

 calling loudly, as is their wont, in the birch-woods on the eastern slope of the Ural range. 

 About the end of February or the beginning of March, they again by degrees reappear; and 

 about the 20th of the latter month the main body arrive in pairs : and I may here remark that 

 I have never observed either this Jay or Garrulus glandarius <migrating in large flocks. The 

 eggs of Brandt's Jay are in no way distinguishable from those of the Common Jay ; from four 

 to seven are deposited ; and I have found them late in April and early in May. Early in the 

 month of June the young are able to fly, and have the tail fully grown." 



Mr. Meves also writes that he observed nothing in its habits or note that in any way 

 differed from Garrulus glandarius ; he generally met with it in woods in the immediate vicinity 

 of a river, and observed that it was often pursued with loud cries by small birds — a proof that 

 the latter looked upon it with more than suspicion. 



Dr. Dybowski, who states that it is a resident in Dauria, but rare, frequenting thickets and 

 woods near the valleys, says that its nest is placed on a pine-tree, is constructed of dry birch 

 twigs, and lined with fine grass-roots. Mr. Taczanowski, who published the above notes from 

 Dr. Dybowski, writes that " two eggs of this Jay, ' sent home by that gentleman,' one from 

 Kultuk and the other from Ussola, closely resemble those of the Common Jay ; but the markings 

 are finer, and the shell is glossier; one of these eggs has the ground-colour more yellowish, 

 whereas in the other it approaches to olive-green, the spots being of a corresponding colour ; in 

 the former there is a distinct ring of confluent spots round the larger end, and in the latter the 

 ring is scarcely perceptible ; one is rather pointed towards the smaller end, and the other is oval 

 in shape. They measure 32 by 22 -8 and 31 by 22 millimetres respectively." 



The specimen figured and described is a fine male obtained in the Southern Ural in May 

 1869, by Mr. L. Sabanaeff, by whom it was sent to Dresser, in whose collection it now is. 



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