FLORIDA JAY 85 



A reference to the adaptability of this species to captivity is referred 

 to by Nuttall (1832) when he states that it is "easily reconciled to the 

 cage." Since caging of wild birds is now a thing of the past, the above 

 may probably be all we will know about this species in private cap- 

 tivity, but successful attempts to tame it at large have been often accom- 

 plished. A striking example is noted by Howell (1932) just 100 years 

 after Nuttall's observation, as follows : 



Miss Edith Werner, who in the spring of 1923 was operating a tea house on 

 the shore of Lake Jackson, near Sebring [Fla.], has been remarkably successful 

 in taming the Florida Jays, which are abundant in the scrub close to her house. 

 She whistles a bright little tune and in a few minutes the Jays appear from all 

 directions and without hesitation alight on her arm or shoulder to take the pieces 

 of bread she offers them. She told us she had been a year or more taming the 

 birds, and that it was a month or more before she could get them near her. At 

 the time of our visit however, they had become so used to strangers that they 

 allowed us to feed them and even alighted on our heads and shoulders. On hearing 

 a note of alarm from one of the Jays in the brush, they all deserted us and flew 

 into the scrub. Miss Werner says the birds always have a lookout posted on a 

 high bush, which sentinel remains there while the rest are feeding and gives 

 warning of danger. She added that they often frolicked together in the morning, 

 at which times they snap the bill continuously as they shake their bodies. 

 Occasionally they sing very softly, imder their breath, "like a canary." 



The indifference of the Florida jay to human presence is alluded to 

 by Hugo H. Schroder (MS.) in the following note: "While I was eating 

 lunch beside the road south of Indian River City, Fla., a male jay landed 

 on ground near my car. When I threw down some bread he picked it up 

 and flew off with it. As soon as he returned, I threw more pieces of 

 bread ; each time the bird would fly off with it. More than a half 

 dozen pieces were taken away ; whether each one was eaten I could not 

 see." 



Wilbur F. Smith (MS.) states that "Florida jays become tame about 

 the houses of winter visitors, taking peanuts and bread from the hand 

 or on the head, or even from between the lips of some." 



This bird appears to run true to corvine traits in its predilection for 

 making away with odds and ends of property. This is a characteristic 

 overlooked by many, or at least not referred to. Such articles are, as 

 usual with avian thievery, bright and shiny as a rule, easily seen and 

 attractive. Buttons, tops of small tins, spoons, bits of glass, china, and 

 the like are among the hoards. A reference to this habit, the only one 

 in fact that has come to my attention from the literature, appears in the 

 Chicago Field of May 1880 and states that these birds "bury such food 

 as they cannot immediately consume, and also spoons, thimbles, or any 

 shining object that attracts their attention." 



Another interesting habit is also apparently not well known and may 



667487—46—7 



