296 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



courage of birds that will hatch their young 

 under such conditions ! The food problem must 

 have been a difficult one for them to solve, 

 and had not the fledglings been constantly 

 brooded by one of the parents, they would have 

 perished from the cold. 



A common pastime of the lumbermen, who 

 well know the Jay's great fondness for meat, is 

 to attach a bit to one end of a long string, the 

 other end of which is fastened to a log of the 

 camp near a window. The operator then places 

 string and meat in a crevice between the logs 

 and withdraws to await developments. No 

 sooner is he in the cabin than the Jay, which 

 all the time has been an interested spectator of 

 these careful preparations, seizes the tempting 

 morsel and starts with a rush toward some 

 secluded perch where his feast is likely to be 

 uninterrupted. Scarcely is he under way when 

 with a jerk he is brought up with a suddenness 

 that upsets him. Nothing daunted, however, 

 he will return again and again until, in sheer 

 pity for his keen hunger, the string is cut, and 

 the meat is borne away in triumph. 



Another diversion of the men is to balance 

 a long dry spruce pole across the log which forms 

 the doorsill of the camp, half of the pole being 

 inside. To the outer end are fastened scraps of 

 meat. When the Jay, and there is always one 

 about, lights on the pole and seizes the bait, a 

 man in the cabin hits the pole a mighty blow 

 with an axe, and the poor bird is hurled many 

 feet into the air. Yet he is uninjured by this 

 rough treatment, and will return repeatedly 



