In Great Britain the Jay finds little consideration, save from the makers of artificial flies, after he has been shot or trapped. The lovely blue wing-feathers are used by these men. Gamekeepers also show him scant mercy. Still he manages to hold his own in the woodlands and is fairly common in England and Wales. In Ireland its numbers are fast decreasing. On the east coasts large flocks sometimes arrive from the Continent to stay for a time; but the Jay is of course resident with us as a species.
The Jay is perhaps now receiving a little more toleration than formerly. It devours worms and insects, certainly, and to a considerable extent. A Son of the Marshes puts it in a light which is worthy of consideration. To quote from “Nature’s Raiders”—“The Jays have scant mercy shown them as a rule. On some estates extreme measures are carried out against them but this is not always the case. Taking their numbers into consideration, they cannot be half so hurtful as they are represented to be from the gamekeepers’ point of view, or they would be thinned off more. Jays are excellent covert guards in the daytime in the same way in which the peewits, at night, guard the fields which they frequent. Both birds give tongue as it is termed. To the small allotment holders who have their cultivated patches in sheltered hollows close to the woods, this bird must be considered as a feathered benefactor, for he will, if allowed to do so, keep within due bounds the small raiders that play havoc with their garden produce. Recently I saw at least a dozen watching for—and capturing also—some of the wood mice that had ventured out on the sunny slopes of the allotment grounds. As the crops were vegetable ones the less attention these have paid to them by the mice, when in a young state, the better.”
The voice of the Jay is against him, however. It does not evoke sympathy. Montgomery wrote:
“Thou hast a crested poll and ’scutcheoned wing
Fit for the herald of an eagle king,
But such a voice! I would that thou could’st sing.”
And the Jay retorts:
“My bill has rougher work, to scream with fright,
And then, when screaming will not do, to fight.”
The Jay is smaller than the Jackdaw. Its plumage is reddish grey, the bridle wide and black; crown nearly white with dark longitudinal flecks; rump and undertail-cover white; on the wings a white spot; tail black,—with pale blue cross bars. Its great beauty is due to the upper wing feathers which are striped with white, black and a beautiful blue. It has bright shining eyes of light blue. The nest is built in trees, sometimes high, sometimes low, and five to nine eggs are laid, which on a pale, usually greenish, ground are thickly speckled with dark but delicate spots.
