Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 6 (1902).djvu/504

434 likely one, yet the general character of this part of the island is very bleak, bare, and treeless, and unsuited to the habits of this bird. I again came across a male of this species on June 24th near Point Lynus. I am of course open to correction, but, so far as I can gather, there is no previous record of this bird in Anglesea. Last year I also met with a pair and young near Edeyrn, in Lleyn.— (King's Buildings, Chester).

Migration of Jays.—It seems to be an established fact that Garrulus glandarius does migrate occasionally, if not regularly. It is possible that our home-bred birds are augmented in numbers every autumn by arrivals from the Continent, but sometimes to a much greater extent than at others. Some twenty years ago (Zool. 1883) a marked migration was recorded from various localities—from Heligoland westward to our east coast, and thence inland as far as Hampshire and East Dorset, and possibly much farther west—but I have no personal records of their journey. It is interesting to state that since the beginning of October there has been an unusual number of the birds both in the forest and in the woods to the west of the Avon, far more than were bred in either locality, and of course the "gamekeeper's museum" has been enriched in consequence, one brave fellow boasting that he had killed more Jays in one day (about the middle of October) than he had seen for a couple of years previously. It must be understood that a relentless war has been waged for years past against this beautiful but noisy species, and that in this locality it is much scarcer than it was formerly; but during the past few weeks many people not generally interested in birds have informed me of seeing Jays in most of the woods. It is well known what an omnivorous appetite these birds have, and very little is rejected—young birds or eggs, insects in either stage, fruit, oak-galls, and grain, are all alike devoured; but in my younger days there was an oak-wood in this neighbourhood where I could always find Jays, and where their nests were not uncommon, and it always seemed to me they were fonder of acorns, when they were to be had, than of any other food; but any "hard and fast" rule with regard to the food of birds may be easily broken, as the following fact will prove. We are all well aware how much a Peregrine Falcon prefers a Wood-Pigeon to most other forest birds, and what an exbibition of wing-power is displayed in the dash of pursuer and pursued; but since the Jays first began to appear, a Falcon—or rather two Falcons—were reported to be preying upon them, not because Wood-Pigeons were scarce; and, on making further enquiries, I find the report correct. As a proof, a gamekeeper had seen a Falcon strike down a Jay; he