BIRDS. 



147 



Garrulus glandarius {L.). Common Jay. 



Old Gaelic name, Scriachaig coille (old Statistical Account, xvii. p. 248). 



Resident. Common. Retreating, however, north and north-west- 

 wards from older centres of greater occupation in the south-east and 

 south, just as they become more persecuted by game preservers. But, 

 as old Guthrie — of Capercaillie fame — used to say of the Hoodie 

 Crow, It's a prattij, pratti/ bird, if it wasmjust vermin f We have no 

 records of the Jay in any localities to the north of Forth and Clyde 

 when the old Statistical Account was penned, unless we admit that 

 it was known at Luss, Loch Lomond, and included as having a Gaelic 

 name by the Rev. P. Stuart. Even then it was not said that it 

 occurred north of the Clyde area. 



Mr. James Lumsden in his paper ^ designates the Jay as "rare in 

 Kincardineshire." But he was informed on good authority that at one 

 time they were more common. In Forfarshire, at date, there was still 

 a fair sprinkling of Jays {auct. Mr. P. Henderson, Dundee) around, 

 "in all the wooded districts of the county, especially in the north 

 and east." Gamekeepers, however, are waging war upon them, and 

 reducing their numbers year by year. In some parts where they are 

 not molested they are on the increase. At somewhat later dates 

 I have not been able to substantiate the latter account 



In Perthshire, Mr. Lumsden goes on to give a resume of his 

 information, which I epitomise. In 1875 it was plentiful (auct. the 

 head-keeper, Mr. Macgregor) at Dunkeld, "and they bred there. 

 "VVe kill a great many every year." They breed every season on 

 Castle Menzies estates, and it has increased within the last ten or 

 twelve years in the valley of the Tay and Tummel, especially in the 

 former above Ballinluig. 



It bred about Strathyre Woods in Balquhidder (Forth), close to 

 our border. 



In the north-east of Perthshire they are met with, but are on 

 the decrease ; in the north-west they are very rare. In the south 

 they are now rare around Auchterarder, where formerly they were in 

 considerable numbers {auct. the late James A. Haldane). There were 

 a few around Moncreiflfe and a few about Methven. Formerly it was 

 abundant in the woods of the Carse of Gowrie, but these are " now 

 reduced to a mere trifle ; still a few where game is not preserved " 

 {auct. Col. Drummond Hay in lit. to Mr. Lumsden). 



^ " On the Distribution of the Common Jay in Scotland," Scottish Naturalist, vol. iii. 

 p. 235, 1875-6. 



