the lower branches of a large tree, if sufficiently thick With
leaves to afford the required concealment. The nest is cüp-
shaped, open at the top, formed on the outside with short
sticks, and thickly lined with fine foots and grasses. The
female lays five or six eggs of a yellowish white ground-colour,
minutely and thickly speckled all over with light brown,
presenting -the appearance of a uniform yellow-grey brown ;
the length one inch four lines, and one inch in breadth.
The young birds follow their parents for Several months after
they leave the nest, some observers say even to the pairing-timë
of the following spring. Montagu says they are never gregarious;
but they are stated by Vieillot, and others, to perform
certain migrations in small flocks in the-southern parts of the
European continent, and they have been seen, by those who
pay constant attention to the habits of birds, to come in the
winter, in small parties of from twenty to forty at a time, to
take up their temporary residence in thick woods on the
Hampshire coast, in the vicinity of Christchurch.
Young birds are easily brought up from the nest, soon,
beeome very tame, and in confinement appear to prefer meat
to any other description of food. Although the most common
notes of the Jay are harsh and grating, the bird in captivity
soon becomes'an amusing pet, from the facility with
which it imitates the sound of the human voice, and indeed
almost any other sound that is to be heard sufficiently* often
to afford the opportunity of acquiring it. Montagu says that
it will sometimes in the spring utter a sort of song in a soft
and pleasing manner, but so low as not to be heard at any
distance ; and at intervals introduce the bleating of'a lamb, the
mewing of a cat, the note of a kite or buzzard, the hooting of
an owl, and even the neighing of a horse. These imitations
are so exact, says Montagu,, even in a natural wild state, that
we have frequently been deceived. Bewick says, “ We have
heard one imitate the sound of a saw so exactly, that though
it. was ott a Sunday, we could hardly be persuaded that there
was not a carpenter at work in the house.” A correspondent
jn the Magazine of-Natural History,r says, I have heard the
Jay perform an uninterrupted song; I t mocked the Greenfinch
most, inimitably, and it was a considerable time before I
fcould persuade myself that it was an imitation. But what
amused me mj&stiof all was its production ;of the neighing of
a horse: This, was so near the truth, that some ^companions
who were'with me,,we.re a long time before they could be convinced
that thejsonhds. proceeded from the bird. The neighing
was very subdued and suppressed, but it bqre. the most
striking r^sembïancp^ü the neighing of.a colt at a distance;
indeed,'so close was the imitation,^that^ without a sight fe#
the bird,, no person could possibly, I' think, be persuaded
that the sound ’ proceeded from such an agent. These imitations
werh-- accompanied, occasionally, with moré subdued
an,d very melodious notes.”
- I have been .favoured with a communication on this subject
from G; W. Edginton, Esq. surgeon, of Binfield in
Berkshire, who, at th4 ;time of writing, had: a male Jay that
became an excellent mimic • ibefore .it was twelve months old.
The calling o&the fowls to their food, and the various noises
of the fowls themselves were given in perfection; but the
crowing of the cock was nut-managed so well. The imitations
of the barking and cry -of the house dog could not be
distinguished from thi^punds made by the original.
- As before observed,-the Jay is common in England and
inhabits some of the, midland and more southern counties of
Ireland, but is said to »have been much more common there
formerly than now, because, being considered to dó injury
to young trees, by a statute of the 17th of George the Se<
cond, Grand Juries were empowered to offer three pence for
the head of each Jay, which reward soon had the effect of
thinning their number.