Passeres 89 



A wary and subtle bird is the Jay {Garrulus glan- 

 darius), as much admired for its beauty as hated by 

 gamekeepers for its destructive tendencies. Fawn- 

 colour, black and white are mingled in its plumage in 

 due proportion, while a large crest and a mottled 

 blue wing-patch enhance its attractiveness. The food 

 consists of worms and insects, acorns, nuts, and 

 other fruits, and unfortunately also of the eggs and 

 young of birds ; the flight is heavy and the reiterated 

 notes harsh and screaming. The nest, sometimes built 

 in the fork of a tree, but ordinarily in thick bushy 

 copsewood, is of twigs, grass and roots, while the four 

 or five greenish eggs are closely freckled with olive and 

 occasionally exhibit a black scrawl. Owing to perse- 

 cution the Jay is local with us and to the northward 

 only reaches Inverness-shire ; the typical form, more- 

 over, is now held to differ from the British, which is 

 again a close ally of other European, Asiatic, and north 

 African species. 



Not many years ago the pretty long-tailed black 

 and white Magpie (Pica pica) was often seen in most of 

 our counties, and was well known for its cunning ways 

 and jarring notes. Now, however, the balance of 

 nature has been so much disturbed by game-preservers 

 that the bird is becoming rare, except where the pre- 

 servation is incomplete. No doubt its fate is more or 

 less merited, as it is destructive to young birds and 

 eggs, but it used to be a great feature in the landscape, 

 being continually seen moving with strong but low 

 flight from one shelter to another, or in spring busy 

 round its wonderful nest. This is a great roundish 

 mass of sticks lined with clay and then with roots, 

 while the top or roof is comparatively thin and flat, 



