SIBERIAN JAY. 151 



or minute analysis can ever make a Jay anything else 

 than a Jay, and in this as in many other branches of 

 natural history, we are apt to lose sight of real natural 

 affinity in a refined hair-splitting philosophy, which 

 equally retards the study and the knowledge of nature. 



Though Asia is given as a locality for the Siberian 

 Jay, it is almost exclusively confined to Northern 

 Europe, Temminck says entirely. It is found in Norway, 

 Sweden, Lapland, Russia, and Siberia, where it is not 

 uncommon. Temminck says that in Norway it bears 

 the name of the Bird of Misfortune. It generally 

 remains, according to M. Bore, squatted on the fork of 

 the branches near the trunk of the tree, from which it 

 sends forth a very piercing sonorous cry. It is a bold 

 bird, and will steal flesh wherever it can. It also feeds 

 on caterpillars and insects, mice and small birds. 



It nests among the firs and pines, three or four 

 yards from the ground, and makes its nest of moss 

 and fibres, hairs and feathers. It lays five or six eggs, 

 smaller than those of the common magpie, of a bluish 

 grey, with the spots darker. — (Temminck.) 



Mr. Wolley found the eggs in his visits to Lapland 

 in 1857 and 1858, and there were five in each of his 

 catalogues for these years. He says, "Common as this 

 bird is, and obtrusive as its habits for three parts of 

 the year are, its eggs are perhaps the most difficult to 

 procure of any. Before winter has shown a sign of 

 departing, it begins to prepare its nest, and in doing 

 so exercises all the cunning of its tribe to keep concealed 

 the selected spot. Its eggs are consequently still 

 unknown to most collectors, while in some cabinets 

 they are represented by well-known varieties of those 

 of the magpie, to which indeed they bear but slight 

 resemblance. It requires long familiarity with the habits 



