THE m.VK .lAY. 



259 



partly the effect of mutual misfortuucs, which are found not only to knit mankind, but 

 many species of inferior animals, more closely together, and show that the disposition of 

 the blue jaj^ may be himianiscd, and rendered susceptible of affectionate impressions, 

 even for those birds which, in a state of nature, he would have no hesitation in making a 

 meal of." 



This bird has a decided talent for mimicking, and also for teasing others of its 

 feathered companions, from which it appears to derive no common satisfaction. One of 

 the birds that is especially annoyed in this way is the little-hawk, whose cry the jay 

 imitates when it meets him, and feigns the shrieks of a bird which has been captured 

 and wounded. This noise brings other jays to the scene of action, and they all join in 

 their annoj^ances of the hawlc. The hawk, however, is not to be outdone, and at length 

 singling out one of the more prominent of its tormentors, seizes it at an imguarded 

 moment, and offers it up as a sacrifice to his hunger and resentment. Instantly the 

 tone of the other birds is changed, and with loud cries they proclaim the tragical conclu- 

 sion of the sport. 



The jays perform important functions in the economy of nature. Their chief employ- 

 ment in the autumnal season is foraging for the supj^l}^ of their winter stores ; and in per- 

 forming this necessary dutj', they di-op a great number of seeds over hedges and fields in 

 their flight, where they alight to deposit them in nests, holes, and other places which they 

 use as store-houses. These birds alone arc able, in a few years, as we are emphatically 

 assured, to replant all the cleai'ed lands. 



The blue jays associate together in considerable nimibers in the months of September 

 and October, when they may be foTind in groups of forty or fifty, liovering about the 

 oaks in piu-suit of their favourite food, the acorn. They seldom exceed this number, and 

 even these are usually scattered with great irregularity over a considerable part of 

 the wood ; yet it is stated by Dr. Latham, that " the blue jays of North jVmerica 

 often unite into flocks of 20,000 at least, which, alighting on a field of ten or twelve 

 acres, soon lay waste the whole. A^'ilson positively affirms, that a flock of blue jays of 

 20,000 would be as extraordinary an appearance in America, as the same number of 

 magpies or cuckoos would be ia Britain ; and he states his firm conviction that the 



OKIOLUS PnOilSICEUS. 



red-winged blackbirds,* in the envii'ons of the River Delaware, alone devour and destroj' 

 more Indian corn than all the blue jays of North America. 



• Oriolus Plutniceus. 



s 2 



