EARLY SPRING IN SAVERNAKE FOREST 233 



are fairly common and not very shy. They are so 

 vociferous and so conspicuous to the eye during 

 these social intervals, and at the same time so 

 carried away by excitement, that it is not only 

 easy to find and see them, but possible at times 

 to observe them very closely. 



The loud rasping alarm- and anger-cry of the 

 jay is a sound famiUar to every one ; the cry used 

 by the bird to call his fellows together is some- 

 what different. It resembles the cry or call of 

 the carrion crow, in localities where that bird is 

 not persecuted, when, in the love season, he takes 

 his stand on the top of the nesting-tree and calls 

 with a prolonged, harsh, grating, and exceedingly 

 powerful note, many times repeated. The jay's 

 call has the same grating or grinding character, 

 but is louder, sharper, more prolonged, and in a 

 quiet atmosphere may be heard distinctly a mile 

 away. The wood is in an uproar when the birds 

 assemble and scream in concert while madly 

 pursuing one another over the tall trees. 



At such times the peculiar flight of the jay is 

 best seen and is very beautiful. In almost all 

 birds that have short, round wings, as we may see 

 in our little wren, and in game birds, and the 



