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.