sound that comes in their way which they will not imitate
more or less exactly—from the human voice to the noise of
any instrument, a saw for example. This mocking faculty
is also possessed by wild birds of the species, though opportunities
of listening to its exercise do not readily occur to
most ornithologists, and the bleat of a lamb, the neigh of a
horse, the mew of a cat, the bark of a dog, the wail of a
Kite or Buzzard (in the days when Kites and Buzzards still
inhabited our woods), the hoot of an Owl, the crow of a Cock
or the cackle of a Hen, have been heard by persevering or
favoured observers to be faithfully rendered by the Jay.
These imitations are chiefly practised in early spring, and,
interposed with sounds that suggest articulate pronunciation,
as well as ejaculations of a kind quite indescribable in words,
which are connected by soft and melodious notes, are introduced
into what may fairly be called the song of the species.
But to hear such a performance is the reward of those only
that know how to approach the timid and wary musician,
who during its execution is embowered among leafy shades,
and is ever on the alert to take alarm at the slightest unwonted
rustle of a bough, the crack of a twig, or at a footfall
that is not absolutely inaudible.
The flight of the Jay seems to be laborious, the bird
making its way with an undulating progress and frequent
flappings of its wings. Generally it is seen only when flitting for
a short distance from tree to tree, but its migrations prove
that it is capable of sustaining a very long voyage through
the air. On the ground it moves chiefly if not entirely by
hopping, never, so far as has been recorded, walking or
running like most of the Corvidce. When perched on a
tree and thinking itself unobserved, its gesticulations are
free and lively. The head is constantly turned from side to
side, the crest alternately raised and lowered, the wings at
times drooped and then drawn up and concealed by the
long loose feathers of the flanks, the tail elevated and
depressed, and swung now to the right and now to the left.
He, however, who would watch the actions of the Jay, must
act as cautiously as has been prescribed in the case of him
who would hear its varied utterances; for, on perceiving the
human presence, the bird instantly shifts to a thick bough
if such be near, or, if compelled to remain exposed, becomes
motionless and silent—looking like a dead stump, and when
the intruder’s nearer approach urges a change of position it
drops as though shot into the brushwood beneath, making
its escape thence in some unexpected direction.
As before observed, the Jay is less common in England
than formerly, though Mr. Cordeaux notes its increase of
late years in Lincolnshire; but in Scotland, according to
the very careful researches of Mr. Lumsden (Scott. Nat. iii.
p. 288), it has decreased of late years even more rapidly
than in England, being in all counties south of the Grampians
but local, and in few anything but rare. North of that
chain it seems only to appear as a straggler. There is no
evidence of its occurrence in Orkney, and but one is recorded
in Shetland. All. Mr. Lumsden’s authorities concur in
saying that formerly the Jay was much more common in
Scotland, and that its decrease is attributable to its destruction
by gamekeepers*. In Ireland it seems now to be
indigenous but in the southern half of the island, and even
there to be very local and far from numerous, though there
is reason to suppose, from the evidence adduced by Thompson,
that it once inhabited and bred in the northern counties.
In Norway and Sweden it seems to travel so far aslat 64° N.,
but it occasionally extends far within the Arctic Circle,
Wolley having obtained it in autumn near Muonioniska. It
inhabits most parts of Finland, and is said to be resident
all the year round even at Kajana, and thence it is found
across the forest region of Russia to the Ural Mountains,
where it is replaced by the nearly-allied but more deeply-
tinted Garrulus brandti. f Further to the south the line
of demarcation between G. glandarius and the kindred G.
krynicki, which seems to be a distinctly recognizable form,
* But -what also causes the death of a very large number of Jays is the value
set upon its pretty blue feathers by fishermen for making artificial flies.
•J- Herr Sabanaeff informed Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser that the Jay found in
Perm, Kasan and Simbirsk is an intermediate “ species” between G. brandti
and G. glandarius.
VOL. I I . U U