THE STELLER JAY. 35 



he ne\er knows what the wonder pouches may contain, until he has ripped a 

 hole in the side and inserted his piratical beak. 



The dense forests of Puget Sound are not so well patrolled by these 

 feathered grafters as are the forests of the East by the true Blue Jay 

 (Cyanocitta cristata). But then our bird has the advantage of denser cover, 

 and we do not know how often we have been scrutinized or shadowed. Upon 

 discovery the Steller Jay sets up a great outcry and makes off thru the thickets 

 shrieking lustily. A favorite method of retreat is tO' flit up into the lower 

 branches of a fir tree and, keeping close to the trunk, to ascend the succeeding 

 limbs as by a spiral staircase. The bird, indeed, takes a childish delight in this 

 mad exercise, and no sooner does he cjuit one tree-top than he dashes down 

 to a neighboring tree to- run another frenzied gamut. 



Owls ha\'e abundant cover in western Washington, but should one of 

 them be startled by day, the Steller blue-coat is the first to note the villain's 

 flight. The alarm is sounded and an animated pursuit begins. When the 

 Owl is brought to bay, the deafening objurgation of the Jays is not the least 

 indignity which he is made to suffer. The Jay, in fact, seeks to make the 

 world forget his own oft'enses by heaping obloquy upon this blinking sinner. 



The notes of the Steller Jay are harsh and expletive tO' a degree. Shaack, 

 sliaack. shaack is a common (and most exasperating) form; or, by a little 

 stretch of the imagination one may hear jay, jay, jay. A mellow klook, klook, 

 klook sometimes varies the rasping imprecations and serves tO' remind one 

 that the Jay is cousin to the Crow. Other and minor notes there are for the 

 lesser and rarer emotions, and some of these not unmusical. Very rarely the 

 bird attempts song, and succeeds in pniducing a medley which quite satisfies 

 licr that he could if he would. 



C. stcllcri, like C. cristafa again, is something of a mimic. The notes of 

 the Western Red-tail (Butco horealis calurus) and other hawks are reproduced 

 with especial fidelity. For such an effort the Jay conceals himself in the depths 

 of a large-leafed maple or in a fir thicket, and his sole object appears to be that 

 of terrorizing the neighboring song-birds. One such I heard holding- forth 

 from a shade tree on the Asylum grounds at Steilacoom. Uncanny sounds 

 are, of co'urse, not unknown here, but an exploratory pebble served to< unmask 

 the cheat, and drove forth a very much chastened Blue Jav before a company 

 of applauding Juncoes. 



It is well known that the gentleman burglar takes a conscientious pride 

 in the safet\- and welfare of his own home. Nothing shall molest his dear 

 ones. Tlie Jay liecomes secretive and silent as the time for nest-building 

 approaches. The nest is well concealed in a dense thicket of fir saplings, or 

 else set at various heights in the larger fir trees. If one but looks at it before 

 the complement of eggs is laid the locality is deserted forthwith. If, however, 

 the enterprise is irretrievably launched, the birds take care not to be seen in 



