56 INSESSORES. 



showy plumage, attractive form, and graceful mo- 

 tions, as well as his restless and noisy activity, ren- 

 der him one of the most prominent inhabitants of our 

 woodlands. It is difficult to realize how a creature 

 so eminently favored and gifted with so many per- 

 sonal charms, should also be possessed of so much 

 selfishness, mischief, and malice. But so it is ; and 

 even in the beautiful garb of the Blue Jay we find 

 the moral written, that it is unsafe to judge from ex- 

 ternal appearances. It robs the nests of other birds 

 indiscriminately, sucking the eggs or devouring the 

 young, and will even attack large birds and other 

 animals which have been wounded or otherwise dis- 

 abled ; but true to his cowardly disposition, he sel- 

 dom risks his safety in open combat with his equals. 

 Audubon says, "The Cardinal Grosbeak will chal- 

 lenge him, and beat him off the ground. The Red 

 Thrush, the Mocking Bird, and many others, although 

 inferior in strength, never allow him to approach 

 their nests with impunity; and the Jay, to be even 

 with them, creeps silently to it in their absence, and 

 devours their eggs and young whenever he finds an 

 opportunity. I have," he adds, " seen one go its 

 round from one nest to another every day, and suck 

 the newly laid eggs of the different birds in the 

 neighborhood, with as much regularity and compo- 

 sure as a physician would call on his patients. I 

 have also witnessed the sad disappointment it expe- 

 rienced, when, on returning to its own home, it found 

 its mate in the jaws of a snake, the nest upset, and 

 the eggs all gone." 



