I 



near the tip, and the latter slightly cuneated at 

 the end: the legs are flesh-coloured: the irides 

 white. 



This bird is a very common inhabitant of our 

 own country, and is found in most of the temperate 

 parts of Europe, frequenting woods, and feeding 

 on acorns, beech-mast, berries, and fruits of vari- 

 ous kinds, as well as on insects, and even some- 

 times on the smaller birds and their young. It 

 builds in trees, forming the nest of the fine fibres 

 of roots, strengthened externally by twigs : the 

 eggs are five or six in number, and of a dull whitish 

 olive-colour, obscurely mottled with pale brown. 

 The young are observed to follow their parents 

 till the succeeding spring. The natural note of 

 the Jay is harsh and loud^; and when calling its 

 young ones, resembles the mewing of a cat; but 

 this bird, like the Raven, the Crow, the Jackdaw, 

 and the Magpie, may be taught to articulate pretty 

 distinctly in the manner of a Parrot, and is fre- 

 quently caged for that purpose. In confinement 

 however it loses the beauty of its plumage, and 

 becomes of a dull or brownish tinge. Monsr. 

 Sonnini observes that Jays spend a good part of 

 the winter in the hollows of trees, among their 

 collections of acorns, pease, &c. appearing only in 

 those mild days which occasionally happen during 

 that season. He also observes that it is no un- 

 common circumstance for Jays to migrate in 

 great numbers in quest of a warmer climate. In 

 some parts of the Levant they arrive in -troops 

 about the beginning of autumn, and depart early 

 in the spring. I shall here beg leave to repeat 



