322 CORYIDÆ.
The beak is black : the irides hazel: the bead, neck and
back, black with a greenish gloss ; rnmp generally greyish-
white ; upper tail-coverts black; scapulars pure white;
upper wing-coverts and tertials of a fine shining blue,
tinged according to the light in which they are seen with
green; secondaries black, glossed with violet; primaries
black glossed with green and having an elongated patch
of pure white, varying in extent, on the inner web of each;
tail black but beautifully iridescent above, on the outer
web of all the side-feathers and on both webs of the
middle feathers, being richly glossed with greenish-bronze,
passing through purple at either end and tipped with violet-
black. Chin and throat black, the shafts of some of the
feathers shining greyish-white; upper part of the breast
black; the lower part of the breast, the belly, sides and
flanks, pure white ; thighs and lower tail-coverts black: legs,
toes and claws, black.
The size varies not inconsiderably but the average length
of a male is fully eighteen inches, of which the longest tail-
feathers often measure nearly eleven ; the wing from the
carpal joint to the tip is about seven inches and a quarter :
the first primary only two inches and a half long; the
second about an inch shorter than the third; the fourth,
fifth and sixth nearly equal in length, but the fifth is commonly
.the longest.
The female is smaller, the tail is shorter, and the plumage
less brilliant.
tiiG eyes j but as Prof. Baird has remarked (B, N. Am p. 578) ; It jg & very
serious question, whether the bird is anything more than a permanently yellowbilled
variety of the common bird.” Here may be noticed the very remarkable
fact that a Pie with a yellow beak has twice been seen in Great Britain, first by
Mr. Harvie Brown and Mr. J. G. K. Young in Stirlingshire, Feb. 23d, 1867
(Zool. s.s. pp. 706, 877), and secondly, in the July following, by Mr. G. F.
Mathew near Buckfastleigh in Devon (op. cit. p. 1016). Whether these birds
were accidental varieties of our own form, or imported examples, and still more
whether, notwithstanding the wide distance of the two localities, the same individual
was twice seen, must remain open questions; but the accuracy of the
observation in neither case admits of doubt. A specimen curiously discoloured,
even to its bill, is mentioned by Macgillivray (Br. B. i. p. 365); and a Daw
with a yellowish bill has been known for more than two hundred and fifty years
(Schwenckfeld, Theriotroph. Siles. p. 305).
JAY. 323
PASSE RES.
Gr ab it u lu s gland a r iu s (Linnæus*).
THE JAY.
Garrulus glanclarius.
Garrulus, Brissonf. Beak shorter than the head, hard, stout and compressed,
straight at the base, sharp at the edges, commissure straight. Nostrils basal,
hidden by stiff feathers directed forwards. Feathers of the crown long and
erectile. Wings moderate, rounded; the first primary short and not attenuated,
the fourth, fifth and sixth, nearly equal, and one of them the longest in the wing.
Tail moderate and slightly rounded. Feet strong, tarsus longer than the middle
toe, to which the outer toe is united at its base ; claws stout, curved, and sharp.
T h e J ay is a handsome bird, still well known in most of
the wooded districts of England, though far less numerous
than formerly. More. arboreal in its habits than the other
members of its family which constantly abide with us, it
* Cm'vm glandarius, Linnæus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 156 (1766).
f Ornithologie, ii. p. 46 (1760).