36 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



for levying blackmail upon the coops ; but the excep- 

 tion proves the rule, and the damage inflicted by owls 

 or kestrels is quite insignificant. I have known a hen 

 sparrow-hawk pull down a hen pheasant, but such an 

 event is rare, I believe. 



The carrion crow, jay, and magpie have a special 

 penchant for game eggs ; the first especially has a 

 bad record. I am not so sure about jays. I have 

 seen lots of jays in coverts on the Continent which 

 were full of game, and I asked the keepers their 

 reason for sparing these robbers. Their answer was 

 that jays feed on insects, and do no harm to the 

 game preserves. To test their theory I killed a 

 jay, and, sure enough, its interior was crammed with 

 large cockchafers. The moral of this appears to be, 

 that jays will not hunt for eggs if they can get plenty 

 of insect food, but that when pushed for hunger they 

 become pillagers of eggs and young. It has been 

 alleged that the Greater Spotted Woodpecker has 

 been known to kill a young pheasant, and I confess 

 I partly believe it, but only as a most abnormal and 

 curious eccentricity on the part of that bird. When 

 I introduced two young Greater Spotted Wood- 

 peckers into a cage which contained two of the lesser 

 species, the female of the latter attacked one of the 

 former most savagely, beating it about the head with 



