MAGPIES. 
207 
carries off to its hoard. In the ruins of Holyrood Chapel, in 
Edinburgh, a Jackdaw was one day seen flying away with a 
large piece pf lace towards its nest ; a soldier undertook to 
climb up and recover it. He did so, but was surprised to 
find, not only the stolen lace, but the following strange assort- 
ment of articles : — part of a worsted stocking, a silk hand- 
kerchief, a frill, a child’s cap, besides several other things, but 
so ragged and worn out, that it was impossible to make out 
what they were. 
JAYS AND MAG-PIES. 
It is remarkable how exactly similar are the habits and 
propensities of birds of the same tribe or family, though of a 
different species. Thus the Jays of North America are of 
various sorts, entirely differing from our English Jays in parts, 
or the whole of their plumage ; and yet in their manners 
scarcely a difference is observable. We have before remarked, 
that these and some other birds will just keep out of the 
range of gun-shot, as if they had learned, either from expe- 
rience, or by some unknown mode of communication from 
their older companions, that provided they never allowed a 
shooter to come within a given distance, they were quite safe. 
But the American Jays we are speaking of have no such 
knowledge founded upon experience, as is fully proved by the 
account of an English officer, ^ who was travelling in a very 
wild, unfrequented part of North America, where no gunners 
had ever gone before him, and no Jay could therefore have 
ever learned the proper distance to keep, in order to ensure 
its safety. Yet there they were, exactly like our common 
English Jays, shy and cautious, as if they had been hunted 
by sportsmen every day of their lives, keeping at a certain 
distance, with that occasional clatter and chattering so well 
known to those who have patiently and perseveringly pursued 
from copse to copse, or tree to tree, a disturbed party of these 
cunning birds. 
At the same time, certain birds of similar habits will 
* Captain Sir Francis Head. 
