THE COMMON JAY (Garrulus glandarius).
The number of broods varies with the district in which the Jackdaws are found, some breeding but once and others twice in the year; the nest is formed of twigs and other dry materials, lined with a bed of delicate fibres, on which, in due season, four or five eggs are deposited; these latter are olive brown, marked with dark spots. During the time that the mother is sitting the male employs every precaution to prevent the discovery of his young family; he visits his mate with the utmost secrecy, and preserves the strictest silence while in her company. The young are fed principally upon insects. Nestlings may be easily reared in confinement, but it is never safe to trust the Blue Jackdaw in an aviary with other birds, as it is not uncommon, under these circumstances, for it to destroy its companions one after another. Audubon gives a most interesting account of an attempt he made to naturalise this species in Europe, but which unfortunately proved abortive; the birds, about thirty in number, destined to make the experiment were placed by him in a large cage, and at first exhibited every symptom of fear, refusing the food he proffered them, and crouching in the corners of the cage; by the next day, however, all had regained their usual spirits, and, taking up seeds of maize in their claws, hammered at them with such hearty good will that the noise they produced sounded more like a diminutive party of smiths than the efforts of birds; quarrels seldom occurred, and the party reached Europe in excellent health and spirits, but had not been long exposed to the change of climate before they began to be infested by numerous parasites, and only one survived to reach London. Since this attempt of the American naturalist many Blue Jackdaws have been brought to Europe, but in no instance have the efforts to naturalise them proved successful.
THE COMMON JAY.
The Common Jay, or Oak Jackdaw (Garrulus glandarius), is an European species, bearing no inconsiderable resemblance to the American bird above described, but its beak is stronger, and the tail shorter and less rounded. The plumage is silky, lax, and flowing, the feathers upon the head being prolonged into a crest. Its colour is principally greyish red or greyish brown, darker upon the back than on the lower parts of the body; the rump is white, the throat whitish, and marked upon its upper portion by two broad black streaks, commencing on the cheeks; the forehead is speckled with black and white; the quills are black, with the exception of a greyish-white space upon the outer web; the tail-feathers are black, occasionally edged with blue; the covers over the primary quills are striped alternately with blue, black, and white, producing a very lustrous effect. The eye is light blue, the beak black, and the feet horn colour. The length of this species is about thirteen, and its breadth twenty inches; the wing measures six and a half, and the tail five inches and three-quarters. The female is somewhat smaller than her mate.
A species closely related to this bird, but differing from it in the markings of the head, is occasionally met with in the south-eastern parts of Germany; its actual habitat, however, is North-western Asia, and members of the group to which it belongs are found in Central and Northern Asia. The Jay inhabits all the wooded districts of Europe except its northern parts, and is also met with in Central Asia and Western Africa; in Germany it is exceedingly common, but in England somewhat scarce. This bird frequents pine forests, woodland pastures, or leafy groves with equal impartiality, living during the summer in pairs, but at other seasons of the year flying over the country with its companions in small parties; it seems to avoid localities where there are no oak-trees, such districts being rarely visited. The Jay is extremely restless, and though in some respects a lively and interesting bird, is so crafty as to render it at times very troublesome, not only to its feathered associates, but to man. When excited, it places itself in a succession of strange attitudes, and imitates a great variety of sounds with amusing correctness. Whilst in a tree, its movements are light and active, and its gait upon the ground by no means awkward; but its flight is heavy, and it rarely remains for any length of time in the air, preferring to perch at short intervals upon trees or bushes, using them, however, not merely as resting-places, but as temporary shelter from the numerous feathered enemies by whom it is constantly pursued in the course of its short excursions from one wood to another. Naumann describes the dread in which many birds of prey are held by the Jays as so great, that they rarely venture to congregate in large flocks, but fly apart over the open country, living according to the advice of the old French maxim, "Chacun pour soi." The wonderful power possessed by this species of imitating the voices of other birds is noticed by many writers. Naumann heard a Jay whinny like a foal and crow like a cock; and Rosenberg tells us that late in the autumn, when seated beneath a tree, he heard one successively imitate the voices of the Magpie, the Shrike, the Thrush, and the Starling, and that on searching the branches to obtain a sight of such unseasonable vocalists, he discovered that all these various sounds were produced by a Jay, perched on a bough just above his head.
Of this bird it may be said, in the broadest sense of the word, that it will eat anything it is possible to obtain or vanquish; nothing, from a mouse to the smallest insect, escapes its voracity. During the autumn it often subsists for weeks together upon acorns and birch or hazel nuts, softening the former in the crop, and afterwards tearing off the shell with its beak; the latter it breaks by hammering upon them without any such preparatory process; Naumann also mentions having seen one of these birds in the act of killing a Thrush, and adds that they frequently work great destruction among young Partridges. The period of incubation commences early in the spring; the nest, which is by no means large, is placed in the branches of a tree at very various heights from the ground, and formed of dry stalks or small twigs, neatly lined with fibrous roots. The eggs, five to six in number, are laid about April; they are of a dirty white, thickly marked with greyish-brown streaks and spots, some of which form a wreath around the broadest end. Only one brood is produced during the year. The young nestlings leave the shell in about sixteen days, and are fed at first on caterpillars, larvæ, worms, and a variety of insects, but at a later period are reared upon the flesh of young birds. Falcons and Sparrow-hawks are among the many enemies with which the Jay has to contend; by the former it is immediately vanquished, but with the latter it will sometimes struggle long and fiercely, the combatants not unfrequently falling to the ground, exhausted by the violence of their efforts. The Horned Owl is a still more formidable assailant, destroying many birds belonging to this species; and their nests are constantly sacked by the Tree Martin, whose approach is often greeted with the most appalling cries as the parents attempt to drive the destroyer from their young. In its intercourse with man the Jay is extremely wary, and often succeeds in exasperating the sportsman, as, while in safety itself, it derides his efforts by its cries, and at the same time warns the other denizens of the wood that danger is approaching. If taken young, these birds may be trained to utter words, but their many disagreeable propensities render them even more unfit for a life of confinement than their American congeners.
In the more northern countries of Europe where the Common Jay is not met with, we find it replaced by a species whose delicate beak, decidedly rounded tail, and dusky plumage, have caused it to be regarded as the representative of a distinct group.