CLASS II. AYES: OKDEE 2. PASSEEES. 193 
THE EUROPEAN JAY. THE EUROPEAN NUT-CRACKBE. (See p. 195.) 
the leaves. It is cup-shaped, formed of small sticks, and lined with finer materials, such as small 
roots and grass ; the eggs are five or six in number. It is of a lively disposition, and has a trick 
of concealing objects and laying up stores like the magpie. It is capable of some education, and 
has great powers of imitation. In a state of nature it has been known to mimic the voices of 
other animals so exactly that it was difficult to believe that the creatures personated were really 
absent. Montagu says, that in the spring the Jay will sometimes ntter a sort of song, Avhich he 
describes as soft and pleasing, but into which it introduces at intervals the bleating of a lamb, the 
mewing of a cat, the note of a kite or buzzard, the liooting of an owl, and even the neighing of a 
horse and similar sounds. In confinement, of course, a wider field is opened for the bird's talents 
for mimicry ; and it usually takes advantage of its position to pick up and repeat every sound 
with which it is familiar. Thus Bewick mentions a Jay that imitated "the sound of a saw so 
exactly that, though it was on a Sunday, we could hardly he persuaded that there Avas not a car- 
penter at work in the house." Mr. Yarrell also refers to one of these birds, in the possession of 
a surgeon in Berkshire, which, before it was twelve months old, imitated the ordinary household 
sounds Avith astonishing accuracy. He would give what might be called a Poultry-yard Enter- 
tainment^ imitating the calling of the fowls to feed, and all the noises of the fowls themselves in 
perfection ; but the crowing of the cock was not managed so well. The barking and noises of 
the house-dog were imitated in a style that could not be distinguished from the original. 
- Among several other foreign species of Jay are the G. in/austus, somewhat smaller than the 
preceding, found in Northern Europe ; and the Ct. lanceolatus and G. hispecularis, both of India. 
In America the jays are more numerous than in the other hemisphere, though they chiefly be- 
long to the warmer regions of this continent. The prcA^ailing hues are diff'erent shades of blue, 
variegated with white, black, or yellow. They generally possess the characteristics of cunning 
and the turn for mimicry belonging to the Eui-opean jay. The prominent species in the United 
States is the Blfe Jay, G. cristatus. This is eleven inches long; light purplish-blue above; be- 
neath white, with a faint bluish tinge. It is migratory in New England, but becomes sedentary in 
the Middle States; found from Texas to Canada. Wilson says: "This elegant bird is distin- 
guished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants of our woods, by the brilliancy of hia 
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