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A. Ezra—The Lidth’s Jay



lias been extended to them by the Japanese Government during the

last twenty years, and they are recovering satisfactorily in numbers.

Of course they can only be obtained at rare intervals, and by special

official permission, for European Aviaries. The climate of the northern

Biu-Kiu Islands is only sub-tropical, and Lidth’s Jays are quite hardy

in sheltered avairies. It has never been bred in captivity.


I have had eight of these gorgeous birds in my aviaries for the last

seven years and they have done splendidly. They become very tame,

and when in full colour in the summer they are very beautiful. Last

year I had a pair of them in one of my small aviaries by themselves.

They built a beautiful nest in a nest-box similar to a Parrakeet’s, and

laid three clutches of eggs, but all these were eaten up by the birds.

I mean to try them again this year, and I hope with better results.

The coloured picture gives you a good idea of the beauty of this wonderful

Jay. I think he is by a long way the most beautiful of all Jays.


From Prince Nobrisuke Taka-Tsukasa

(.Lalocitta lidthi (Bonaparte))


Distribution. —This Jay occurs in Amami-Oshima and Tokuno-

shima, which are in the northern group of Byukyu Islands, and it

has not yet been known from other islands.


Habits. —It is fierce in nature and often attacks other birds and

destroys their nests and eggs. As this Jay keeps almost exclusively

to the thickly wooded mountain-ranges, on these islands, no birds

other than this species is found in those districts.


It feeds on acorns and insects, but it takes a small quantity of

the latter and, according to the peasants who live in the mountains,

it also eats immature bulbous roots and stems of sweet potatoes, but

its staple food is the acorn of Quercus cuspidata, and its distribution

corresponds to that of Quercus cuspidata occurring in these islands.


It is very active and lives in flocks of some half dozen birds in

dense forests and, like the Jay, it is also very noisy. When a man comes

near them they instantly fly away with a warning cry, and it is rather

difficult to shoot them, but if a hunter uses a pipe which is made of

a stem of Miscanthus sinensis by bending it into two and puts some



