Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Family CORVIDE. Genus GARRULUS. COMMON JAY. Garrulus Glandarius (Linnaus), Single Brooded. Laying season, April and May. British Breeding AREA: The Jay, in spite of constant persecution, breeds more or less sparingly throughout the woodland districts of England and Wales. In many places where game is not very strictly preserved, and feathered marauders allowed to dwell in peace, the Jay is a common bird. In Scotland it is much more local and slowly becoming scarce, from the same causes, although its range has been extended with the planting and growth of trees. Its principal quarters in Scotland are the central counties, as far north as Inverness-shire; it does not, however, breed in the Hebrides, and is only a straggler to the Shetlands. In Ireland, where it has also decreased in numbers, its chief breeding area is now in the south-east, in the area confined by the rivers Barrow and Suir. Breeding Habits: The principal breeding-grounds of the Jay are the game coverts, woods, and plantations where the underwood is dense and leafy. The bird is particularly fond of covers where evergreens are plentiful, and is thus specially addicted to shrubberies. In all cases, however, the Jay will nest most abundantly where the cover is thickest. In my opinion this handsome bird is a life-paired species, and may be seen in company with its mate all through the year. As the breeding season approaches the Jay becomes much less noisy and even more skulking in its movements, so that it often safely rears a brood in a cover where its presence has never been suspected. The site for the nest is seldom at any great altitude from the ground, the cover usuallynot being sufficiently dense above the growth of tangled underwood. A situation is generally selected in a tall bush or sapling, e…
