46 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



ing, because the note lacks the hard ; sound at the beginning. It is 

 long drawn out, falling in pitch at the end and is generally repeated a 

 number of times. This is the note we hear all through the autumn 

 from screaming companies of jays traveling through the woods. It 

 suggests to us various emotions or states of mind — remonstrance, taunt- 

 ing defiance, whining complaint, anger, but never, I think, fear. The 

 tone of voice varies too. It may be harsh, hard and flat, or musical and 

 delicate; sometimes it has a tin-whistle quality; and rarely it is pitched 

 so high that it resembles a killdeer's piercing whistle. 



The jay uses a great number of calls — too many for us to describe 

 them all in detail — and the fact that they tend to run into each other 

 makes enumeration difficult. Even dissimilar notes, by a slight altera- 

 tion in inflection or tone, will often merge into one another. For ex- 

 ample, when the jay call is produced in its purest musical form, and 

 uttered as two notes, it bec.omes the well-known, bell-like tiill-till or 

 twirl-erl. When a bird is near us we can sometimes detect the transition 

 as one note is gradually converted into another. 



Francis H. Allen (MS.) terms the tull-iill the anvil call, an apt com- 

 parison, and says that in making the note "the jay raises and lowers 

 its head twice, once for each part of this dissyllabic note. This bobbing 

 of the head is up and down, not down and up." 



During the warmer months the jay often utters a pleasing whistled 

 note that sounds like teekle, pronounced like our word tea-cup. Over 

 and over he sings it as he flies about, sometimes giving it in pairs or 

 series. It seems to reflect a quiet, happy mood in which the bird is 

 free for the moment from antagonism. This note is allied to the creak- 

 ing, wheel-barrow c.all, commonly written whee-oodle. 



Frequently heard in the autumn gatherings is a chuckling, conversa- 

 tional kiik. This note diflfers widely in its mode of delivery. It may 

 be extended into a bubbling chatter — a sort of tittering laugh — or, 

 ranging up and down in pitch, it may run off into pretty, rambling 

 phrases. The voice is not loud, and we have to be near the bird to 

 appreciate the charm of the phrasing. Jays give a modification of the 

 kuk when they are feeding in trees or when they visit feeding stations. 

 Quite different from the shouted or whistled notes is a dry, wooden 

 rattle, almost a growl. A lone jay may give it, or one or more in a 

 large company. The notes are often accompanied by an odd rising up 

 and down on the perch. Francis H. Allen (MS.) speaks of it as 

 "a grating, pebbly r-r-rt, generally given twice, but sometimes three 

 times. The repetition is in the manner of most of the c.alls of the 

 species. The grating quality I express by the r, but of course the it 

 sound ran all through the note. 'Pebbly' seems to express it rather 

 well." 



