The Jay. RIRDS. The Blue Jay. .345 
THE JAY {Garrulus glandarim ). — This handsome 
bird, which is abundant in the wooded districts of 
Europe, measures nearly fourteen inches in length, and 
is of a general reddish-brown colour, paler ocneath ; 
the crown of the head is adorned with a small erectile 
crest, of which each feather is streaked with black ; 
on each side of the chin is a moustache-like black 
streak ; the quill feathers of the wings are black, with 
the outer webs of the primaries dusky-white, and a 
pure white spot near the base of the secondaries ; the 
primary wing-coverts are barred with blacik, white, 
and bright blue ; and the tail feathers are black. — 
Fig. 113. 
The Jay is well known in England and the southern 
parts of Scotland, inhabiting the thick woods, and 
building its nest either in a tall bush or amongst the 
lower branches of a tree, but always in a situation 
which affords it a safe concealment. The nest is cup- 
shaped, and composed externally of small sticks and 
twigs, lined with roots and grasses. The eggs, which 
Fig. 113. 
The Jay (Garrulus glandarius). 
are five or six in number, are of a yellowish-brown 
colour, minutely, speckled with light brown. The 
young birds are said to accompany their parents for 
several months. 
The food of the Jay consists partly of insects and 
worms, and partly of vegetable matters, especially 
acorns and beech mast, its predilection for which is 
alluded to in its specific name. Occasionally, during 
the summer, this bird lays aside a certain portion of its 
natural shyness, and ventures into the gardens to feast 
upon peas and ripe cherries, a habit which causes the 
VoE. I. 44 
gardener to regard him as an enemj’’, and destroy him 
with as little compassion as the gamekeeper, who con- 
siders him as a destroyer of eggs and young birds. 
The general note of the Jay is harsh and grating, but 
Montagu says that in the spring he will utter a soft 
and [ilcasing song, and in captivity there is scarcely 
any sound that ho will not learn to imitate ; the cries 
of fowls, the bleating of a lamb, the mewing of a cat, 
the barking of a dog, the neighing of a horse, and even 
the articulate sounds of the human voice are repro- 
duced by him with the greatest exactness. Bewick 
mentions his having hcaul one imitate the sound of 
a saw so exactly, that though it was on a Sunday, 
people could hardly be persuaded that there was not 
a carpenter at work in the Irouse. 
THE BLUE JAY {Cyanurus cristatics ). — This bird, 
which is an inhabitant of most parts of North America, 
is more elegant in its form than the preceding si)ecies, 
which it resembles in its general habits, and in its live- 
liness and imitative talents. Its plumage is light 
purplish blue above, and white beneath ; 
the head is adorned with a handsome crest 
of blue feathers, and the neck with a cres- 
cent-shaped black mark; the wings are 
blue, as are also the feathers of the long- 
wedge-shaped tail ; the wing-primaries, and 
tail feathers being elegantly marked with 
transverse black bands, and tipped with 
white. The whole length of the bird is 
about eleven inches. The Blue Jay is an 
inhabitant of the woods and forests, amongst 
which his singular and varied notes are 
constantly heard during the spring season. 
Ilis favourite diet consists of chestnuts, 
acorns, and Indian corn ; but he also visits 
the gardens occasionally in search of fruit, 
and frequently picks up insects or cater- 
pillars upon the branches of the trees. Some- 
times he indulges his taste for animal food 
in a less innocent fashion, plundering the 
nests of his fellow-inhabitants of the woods, 
destroying their eggs, and tearing in pieces 
and devouring their helpless young. At 
the same time he exhibits a hypocritical 
enmity to the smaller hawks and owls, 
especially the latter, leading on the small 
birds to attack these enemies of their race 
with the greatest spirit and perseverance. 
The nest of this bird is placed in a tree, 
composed of twigs, and lined with dry root 
fibres. The eggs are five in number arjd 
of a dull olive colour, spotted with brown. 
THE RAVEN (Com/s corax ). — Of the British species 
of this family, the Raven is the largest and most 
powerfrd, the adult male measuring about twenty inches 
in length. It has a long and strong bill of a black 
colour, and the feathers springing from the base of the 
upper mandible and covering the nostrils are about an 
inch and a half long. The whole of the plumage is 
black, with a puiple or bluish gloss; the irides are 
brown and grey, and the feet bl.ack. This bird is 
found in all parts of the northern hemisphere, extending 
its range even into the frozen regions of the Arctic 
