BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 25 



can laugh at our dupe when we practise it; nor 

 do we afterwards despise our superior cunning 

 and feel ashamed, as when we slaughter wild 

 birds with far-reaching shot, which they cannot 

 escape. 



All these corvine birds, which the gamekeeper 

 pursues so relentlessly, albeit they were before 

 him, killing when they killed to better purpose; 

 and, let us hope, will exist after him — all these 

 must greatly surpass other kinds in sagacity to 

 have escaped extermination. In the present con- 

 dition of things, the jay is perhaps the best off, 

 on account of his smaller size and less conspicu- 

 ous colouring; but whether more cunning than 

 the crow or magpie or not, in perpetual alertness 

 and restless energy or intensity of life, he is 

 without an equal among British birds. And this 

 quality forms his chief attraction; it is more to 

 the mind than his lifted crest and bright eyes, 

 his fine vinaceous brown and the patch of sky- 

 blue on his wings. One would miss him greatly 

 from the woods; some of the melody may well 



