PHEASANTS IN COVERT AND AVIARY 



that the Jay follows a fox hoping to get a feed off the 

 remnants of any meal he secures, but were this the object, 

 it is to be assumed the bird would keep quiet and not attempt 

 to place hindrances in his way. Whatever game and other 

 birds may think of the Jay as a robber of nests they do not 

 hesitate to take advantage of its warning cries, for the Jay 

 never gives tongue without reason, and be it weasel, stoat 

 or fox on the prowl, soon lets the feathered kind know. 



" The Jay lives in mortal dread of the sparrow-hawk, its 

 o-reatest enemy, and this bird is the principal reason that it 

 so seldom leaves the coverts. Among the trees and bushes 

 it can escape, but in the open its slow, hesitating flight 

 renders it an easy prey. Indeed, it rarely attempts to escape 

 by flight from the sparrow-hawk in the open, but at once 

 alights on the ground, if any distance from the hedge or 

 thicket, and seeks to keep its antagonist at bay by means 

 of its powerful bill. The observer will witness a most in- 

 teresting sight, a prolonged combat which always terminates 

 in the victory of the hawk if no other Jays come to the 

 rescue. Should other Jays hear the cry of their brother in 

 distress they do not hesitate to assist it, recognising that 

 safety lies in numbers. On seeing more Jays appear on 

 the scene, the hawk invariably relinquishes the contest. 

 The writer has never seen a kestrel tackle a Jay. 



" Mr Jay is about the wariest bird alive and sees an 

 intruder long before the latter sights him ; and although he 

 is so noisy, he is careful not to utter a sound until right out 

 of the danger zone. The bird sees to its own safety first, 

 and then thinks of others, which is the custom all the world 

 over. Probably the Jay's worst time is on shooting days, 

 when penned in between guns and beaters, the bird has to 

 brave one or the other. Sometimes he goes forward and 

 is shot, but more often decides that safety rests in a masterly 



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