The Jay. 



391 



coverts are pale chestnut brown ; the larger ones are beauti- 

 fully barred with black, azure blue, and white, alternately, 

 looking like a piece of elegant chequer work ; the larger pen 

 feathers are black and ashen grey mixed ; the base of the 

 central feathers, and edges of others, are white, forming a 

 lovely white mark on the wings ; the tail is black, with 

 greyish brown margins to the feathers, and fan-shaped when 

 spread out ; at the root it is grey. The legs and feet are 

 pale brown, inclining to flesh colour. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Jay, or Blue-winged Jay, as 

 it is sometimes called, is indigenous to Great Britain, and 

 also found in various parts of Europe, including France, 

 Spain, Germany, Italy, Greece, Denmark, Russia, &c. It is 

 distributed throughout the greater portions of the counties of 

 England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, and is most plentiful 

 in well-wooded districts and uncultivated waste lands. 



Being predatory in habit, it is a source of great annoyance 

 to gamekeepers, as it is very destructive during the breeding 

 season, and eats the eggs of Partridges, Pheasants, and other 

 birds, never missing an opportunity to do so when one presents 

 itself ; when driven by hunger, it will attack and devour the 

 young of these birds as well. It is as rapacious as the 

 Magpie, and, being keener sighted, and more active in its 

 movements, is proportionately more mischievous and destructive. 



The nest, which is generally built in fir, beech, or oak 

 trees, though occasionally in a tall, well-grown bush, inside 

 a plantation or dense thicket, is composed of slender sticks 

 and twigs interwoven, and is lined with root fibre and dried 

 grass ; it is a rather primitive affair, not over-carefuUy con- 

 structed, and often very shallow. The hen lays from four to 

 six eggs, about the size of a Dove's or Magpie's egg, ashen grey 

 in colour, mixed with green, and faintly, but liberally, spotted 

 with olive brown. They frequently, however, differ con- 

 siderably in appearance, both in ground colour and markings, 

 some being much paler and freer from spots than others. 

 The hen incubates about fifteen days, and has one, and some- 

 times two, nests in a season. The young remain in the 

 immediate locality of their birthplace, and associate with 

 their parents during the moulting season, and autumn and 

 winter months. In the spring they separate, as all wild 

 birds do at this time, to propagate their species. 



