276 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



to tliat of the tnimpetei- in llic liautl. His notes he varies to an almost 

 intinite extent, at one time screaming with all his might, at another war- 

 bling witli all the softness of tone and moderation of the Bluebird, ami 

 again imparting to his voice a grating harshness that is indescribable. 



Tlie power of mimicry possessed by the Jay, though different from, is 

 hardly surpassed by that of the Mocking-Bird. It especially delights to 

 imitate the cries of the Sparrow Hawk, and at other times those of the Bed- 

 tailed and Bed-shouldered Hawks are given with such similarity that the 

 small birds fly to a covert, and the inmates of the poultry-yard are in the 

 greatest alarm. Dr. Jared P. Kirtlaud, of Cleveland, on whose grounds a 

 large colony of Jays took uji tlieir abode and became very familiar, lias given 

 me a very interesting account of their habits. The following is an extract : 

 " They soon became so familiar as to feed about our yards and corn-cribs. 

 At the dawn of every pleasant day throughout the yeai', the nesting-season 

 excepted, a stranger in my house might well suppose that all the axles in 

 the country were screeching aloud for lubrication, hearing the liarsh and dis- 

 cordant utterances of these birds. During the day the poultry might be 

 frequently seen running into their hiding-places, and the gobbler with his 

 upturned eye searching the heavens for the enemy, all excited and alarmed 

 by the mimic utterances of the adapt ventriloquists, the Jays, simulating the 

 cries of the Bed-shouldered and the Bed-tailed Hawks. The domestic circle 

 of the barn-yard evidently never gained any insight into the deception by ex- 

 perience ; for, though the trick was repeated every few hour.s, the excitement 

 ■would always be re-enacted." 



When reared from the nest, these birds become very tame, and are per- 

 fectly reconciled to confinement. They very soon grow into amusing pets, 

 learning to imitate the human voice, and to simulate almost every sound that 

 they hear. Wilson gives an account of one that had been brought u]) in a 

 family of a gentleman in South Carolina that displayed great intelligence, 

 and had all the loquacity of a parrot. This bird could utter several words 

 with great distinctness, and, w-henever called, would immediately answer to 

 its name with great sociability. 



The late Dr. Esteep, of Canton, Ohio, an expei-ienced bird-fancier, assured 

 Dr. Kirtlaud that he has invariably found the Blue Jay more ingenious, 

 cunning, and teachable than any other species of bird he has ever attempted 

 to instruct. 



Dr. Kirtlaud has also informed me of tlie almost invaluable services ren- 

 dered to the farmers in his neighborhood, by the Blue Jays, in the destruc- 

 tion of caterpillars. When he first settled on his farm, he found every apple 

 and wild-cherry tree in the vicinity extensively disfigured and denuded of 

 its leaves by the larva; of the Clisiocampa americana, or the tent caterpillar. 

 The evil was so extensive that even the best farmers despaired of counter- 

 acting it. Not long after the Jays colonized upon his place he found they 

 were feeding their young quite extensively with these larvae, and so 



