SIBERIAN JAY. 151 
or minute analysis can ever make a Jay anything clse 
than a Jay, and in this as in many other branches of 
natural history, we are apt to lose sight of real natural 
afimity in a refined hair-splitting philosophy, which 
equally retards the study and the knowledge of nature. 
Though Asia is given as a locality Yor 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. ‘emminck 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 
