134 
THE SHRIKE, 
finished by repeated visits, the old birds return to the 
woods, with all their chattering children, and become 
the same wild, cautious creatures they were before. 
Some of our birds separate from their broods, as soon 
as they are able to provide for themselves ; but the jay 
and its family associate during all the autumn and 
winter months, taking great delight in each other’s 
company, and only separate to become founders of new 
establishments. We see them in winter under the shel- 
ter of tall hedges, or on the sunny sides of woods and 
copses, seeking amid the ary leaves for acorns, or the 
crab, to pick out the seeds, or for the worms and grubs 
hidden under cowdung ; feeding in perfect silence, yet 
so timid and watchful, that they seldom permit the 
sportsman to approach them. When disturbed, they 
take shelter in the depth of the thicket, calling to each 
other with a harsh and loud voice, that resounds through 
the covert. The Welsh call this creature “ screck y 
coed” the screamer of the wood. The jay is a very 
heavy, inelegant bird. Its general plumage is sober and 
plain, though its fine browns harmoniously blend with 
each other : but the beautiful blue-barred feathers, that 
form the greater coverts of the wings, distinguish it 
from every other bird, and, in the days when feather- 
work was in favor with our fair countrywomen, were in 
such request, that every gamekeeper, and schoolboy 
brother with his Christmas gun, persecuted the poor 
jay through all his retirements, to obtain his wings. 
The great shrike, or butcher-bird (lanius excubitor), 
is not uncommon with us, and breeds annually near my 
dwelling. It is one of our late birds of passage, but its 
arrival is soon made known to us by its croaking, un- 
musical voice from the summit of some tree. Its nest 
is large and ill-concealed ; and during the season of 
incubation the male bird is particularly vigilant and 
uneasy at any approach towards his sitting mate, though 
often by his clamorous anxiety he betrays it and her to 
every bird-nesting boy. The female, when the eggs are 
hatched, unites her vociferations with those of the male, 
and facilitates the detection of the brood. Both parents 
are very assiduous in their attentions to their offspring, 
