' ■ SECOND ANNUAL MEETING 29 



food-habits of our birds we cannot afEord to continue indifferent in 

 our treatment of them, nor can we even allow our neighbors to kill 

 them though we ourselves have decided to reform in this respect. We 

 inust work for a change of heart in our neighbors also. 



INJURIOUS TKAITS OF THE BLUE JAY 



E. D. HOWE, TABLE ROCK 



Ornithologists, like other people, seem to be subject to the laws of 

 fashion. It is very much in style for every one who writes about birds 

 lo condemn the English Sparrow, without any very good reason that 

 I could ever discover, and it it equally fashionable to argue that the 

 31ue Jay is a pretty good sort of a bird, in spite of its bad reputation. 

 We are told that chemical analysis only reveals the presence of birds' 

 ■eggs in about one per cent of the stomachs examined. Before accept- 

 ing this as an entire vindication of the Blue Jay's character, I should 

 "want more particulars as to the time of year when those examina- 

 tions were made, and how many birds' eggs were available as an ar- 

 ticle of diet at the time of each examination. From my observations, 

 I should say that if a Jay is captured at any time when he has not 

 been eating eggs, it is owing to his inability to get any, and not from 

 any conscientious scruples in the matter. 



Now as to what I have seen. On one occasion I observed a Blue Jay 

 sitting on the side of a nest, pecking vigorously at something within. 

 I climbed up to the nest and secured a mourning dove's egg with a hole 

 in the side. This, to me, is more convincing evidence than any num- 

 laer of chemical analyses. At another time I saw a Jay making the 

 same motions at an orchard oriole's nest, but in this case I was not 

 able to examine the nest. Having thus obtained positive knowledge 

 of the Blue Jay's habits, when I have found eggs disappearing from 

 nests of robins, kingbirds and mourning doves, I have charged them 

 ^all up to the Jays, possibly at times unjustly. I have, however, an- 

 other reason for believing in the predatory habits of the Blue Jay, 

 and that is the instinct of other birds. Whenever a commotion is 

 lieard in the tree tops, a Jay can generallj^ be found responsible for 

 it. I grew quite familiar last summer with a certain scolding note 

 irom the Warbling Yireo, and close observation would generally show 

 a Jay near its nest. I do not think the birds would universally recog- 

 nize the Blue Jay as an enemy unless they had some reason for it. 



Around my own home, Blue Jays seem to be supplanting other birds, 

 robins, orioles, and blackbirds, formerly numerous, seem to be get- 

 ting scarcer every year, while Blue Jays and Blue Jays' nests are to 

 'be seen everywhere. It is customary to accuse the English Sparrow 



