EUROPEAN JAY. 
255 
close and accurate observer, and we would not 
wish to impugn his accuracy. When kept tame, 
which they very soon become, and allowed suffi- 
cient room, they are agreeable pets, become 
familiar, playful, and impudent, and possess the 
faculty of imitation to a considerable extent, 
some of them so accurately as to have deceived 
both man and beast, if we may believe all the 
recorded anecdotes. 
The Jay builds on trees, and constructs a nest 
almost intermediate between those of the Crows 
and Thrushes. It is formed externally of sticks, 
much weaker, however, than that of the True 
Crows, and internally it is built and lined with 
the fibres of roots, and a few strong straws or 
grasses. The eggs, five or six in number, are of 
a pale bluish green, blotched with yellowish or 
reddish brown. (See plate XXVIII.) 
The forehead, and crown of the head, streaked 
with black, feathers behind lengthened, and form- 
ing a crest erectile at pleasure or excitement, 
which adds much to the lively appearance of the 
bird. From the corners of the mouth there is a 
large black oval patch or moustache running 
below the auriculars on each side of the neck. 
The upper parts of the body, except the rump, 
are pale brownish purple red, having a peculiar 
and agreeable opaque appearance. The under 
parts are of the same colour, but paler, and shade 
in the centre into a reddish yellow-white, becom- 
ing pure white on the under tail coverts. The 
rump and upper tail coverts are also of this same 
