BLACK-HEADED JAY. 147 



name of the Russian naturalists, Iliceti, considering that 

 Gene's species is different, and not found in Europe. 



W hether this is correct or not there seems to be no 

 doubt but that the habits of the Common Jay and the 

 species we are now considering are precisely the same. 



For the same reason then that I introduced some 

 interesting details by Professor Moquin-Tandon, on the 

 nidification of the Common Magpie, I quote here some 

 equally valuable notes from his paper on the Nests and 

 Eggs of the Common Jay, ( ' Garrulus glandarius.) 

 They are extracted from the "Revue de Zoologie" for 

 March, 1858:— 



"It is well known that the Jays build in oaks, ches- 

 nuts, birches, and beeches, at a height of from five to 

 eight metres, (sixteen to twenty-four feet;) it rarely 

 chooses bushes. Its nest is in the form of a shallow 

 cup, more or less extended. I have seen a large number 

 of them, and they are all very much alike. Four of 

 them averaged about three inches high, six inches in 

 diameter, and two in depth. 



In the materials which compose their nests are found 

 on the outside small branches and twigs of oak, chesnut, 

 and beech, and inside slender roots of heath and stalks 

 of grasses. 



The eggs of the Jay are in number from four to 

 seven, and of a dark grey, with a more or less bluish, 

 greenish, or reddish shade, with small olive-coloured 

 spots in great number very close together. 



These eggs vary very much in colour. In 1838 one 

 hundred and three were brought to me from the Black 

 mountain near Revel, some fresh, the others hatched. 

 I noticed in this number fifty-six of a greenish grey, 

 finely and indistinctly spotted with olive green, (this is 

 the type;) twenty-one less grey, rather bluish, with 



