Jay

Jay, any bird of the Corvine genus Garrulus, with twelve species from the Palaearctic region. The Common Jay (G. glandarius) is British, and one of the handsomest of our native birds. The adult is about 13 inches long. General plumage vinous-red above, paler on the under surface, fading into white on the vent and under tail-coverts; the black wing-coverts are barred with blue and white, and there is an erectile crest of whitish feathers streaked with black. Like the rest of the genus, it is an omnivorous feeder, devouring the farmer's fruit and the eggs of the game-preserver, though it makes some amends by consuming numberless insects and their larvae and waging war upon mice. It has considerable power of mimicry, and is often kept as a pet. Allied genera are found in the New World.