BIRDS. 225 
THE JAY (Corvus glandarius,) 
Is less than the magpie, and resembles him more in the 
habits of his life than in the shape and colour of his body. 
Talkative, and ready to imitate all sounds, as is the 
former, yet he can boast of ornamental colours, which 
the magpie is deprived of. Nothing can, on the palette 
of the ablest painter, equal the brightness of the chequered 
tablets of white, black, and blue, which adorn the sides 
of his wings. His head is covered with feathers, which 
are moveable at will, and their motion is expressive of 
the internal affections of the bird, whether he is stimu- 
lated by fear, anger, or desire. 
A Jay, kept by a person in the north of England, had 
learned at the approach of cattle, to set a cur dog upon 
them, by whistling and calling him by his name. One 
winter during a severe frost, the dog was by this means 
excited to attack a cow that was big with calf, when the 
poor animal fell on the ice, and was much hurt. The Jay 
was complained of as a nuisance, and its owner was obliged 
to destroy it. 
The hen lays five or six eggs, of a dull white colour, 
mottled with brown. 
L 5 
