6 
British Birds. 
Luckily for himself, the Jay is gifted with an uncommon degree of artfulness, and its 
presence is generally only detected by its harsh note of alarm from some thick covert. 
It has also a strong partiality for fruit and will commit havoc in the early morning on 
rows of peas, should the kitchen -garden be in the proximity of a wood. At certain 
times of the year the Jay devours a large quantity of grubs, and a good acorn year is 
sure to attract a number of the birds to the oak trees. The nest is a tolerably 
neat cup of twigs and roots, lined with finer rootlets, and the eggs, sometimes 
as many as six in number, are olive brown or clay colour, finely dotted with 
pale brown, so minutely that the eggs appear to be sometimes quite uniform in 
colour. 
A resident species in most parts of the British Islands, but absent 
I HE MAGPIE. - n some districts of Scotland, and now rare in many of the southern 
(Pica pica.) 
and midland counties of England, where it was formerly not uncom- 
mon. The bright colours of the wings, the long tail, and the conspicuous white 
shoulder-patch are features which easily distinguish the Magpie from all the other 
British Crows, and its chattering cry is also quite different from the harsh croaking notes 
of the other species. The generic character by which it may be told from the other 
members of the family which are found in Great Britain is the long tail, and another 
peculiarity is seen in the attenuated first primary-quill of the wing, which is narrowest 
towards the end, while the quick flapping of the wings is also different from the ordinary 
powerful flight of other Crows. The pilfering habits of the Magpie and its egg- 
destroying propensities render it obnoxious to farmers and game-keepers, who ignore 
the fact that it is a bird which devours a large number of injurious insects and 
grubs. In other countries of Europe, such as Norway, for example, the bird is 
not persecuted and becomes comparatively tame, three and four individuals being 
often seen in company. The nest is an artistic structure of twigs and is generally 
domed, and the eggs are sometimes as many as seven in number, of a light greenish 
colour, mottled or spotted with brown or greenish brown. 
This bird is easily recognised by its black plumage and bright red 
THE CHOUGH, The nostrils are differently placed to those of the true Crows, 
(Graculas 
graculus.) 
being situated lower down in the bill, nearer to the cutting edge of the 
mandible than to the ridge. Its former inland habitats in Great 
Britain now know the Chough no more, but it is found still on many of the rocky coasts 
of Wales and Ireland, and on some of the Western Islands of Scotland, It breeds in 
caves or in holes of cliffs, where it builds a nest of sticks and heather-stems, 
lined with wool and hair. The eggs are much lighter than those of any other 
British Crow, being nearly white with brown spots. 
The Alpine Chough is distinguished from the Red-billed Chough 
THE ALPINE . F , 
CHOUGH by ’ ts shorter and yellow bill, and by having the base of the cheeks 
(Pyrrhocorax bare, and not feathered, as in the foregoing species. It is an inhabitant 
pyrrhocorax.) of the mountains of Southern Europe, whence it extends through the 
