232 BIRDS AND MAN 



are very few and far between. It is true, as an 

 observant gamekeeper once said to me, that if 

 there are as many as half-a-dozen to a dozen jays 

 in any wood they will contrive to hold a meeting; 

 but when the birds are few and much persecuted, 

 it is difficult to see and hear them at such times, 

 and when seen and heard, no adequate idea is 

 formed of the beauty of their displays, and the 

 power and variety of their language, as witnessed 

 in locaUties where they are numerous, and fear 

 of the keeper's gun has not damped their mad 

 jubilant spirits. 



Some of my many country readers, personally 

 unknown to me, who have sent me valued letters 

 on other subjects, may have had better oppor- 

 tunities of studying the jay with regard to this 

 point ; and any fresh information which they 

 may care to send me on the subject would be 

 gratefully received. 



In genial weather the jay's assembly may be 

 held at any hour, but is most frequently seen 

 during the early part of the day : on a fine warm 

 morning in March and April one can always 

 count on witnessing an assembly, or at aU events 

 of hearing the birds, in any wood where they 



