10 



many places so entangled with creeping plants that it is impossi- 

 ble to walk through it without cutting a path. The most favorite 

 haunts of the Jays seemed to be where there were no creeping 

 plants ; and in these localities there are generally small spots 

 interspersed among the oaks entirely bare of vegetation. The 

 scrubs are generally found on elevated ridges running parallel to 

 the sea-coast, where the soil is too poor for a growth of pine. 

 The most extensive of these that I recollect is at a short distance 

 from Enterprise, on the Smyrna trail ; it is about three miles in 

 width, and apparently elevated eighty feet above the lake. 



In its flight and action the Florida Jay resembles the mocking- 

 bird much more than its relative the Blue Jay. It has none of 

 the restless, suspicious manners of the latter. I have never heard 

 it utter but one note, much softer (as Audubon states) than the 

 usual cry of the Blue Jay. The males were generally perched 

 upon the highest branch in the neighborhood of their nest, utter- 

 ing their rather monotonous song with apparent satisfaction, and 

 occasionally gliding or rather dropping down either to pick up some 

 insect or to visit their mates, or when there were two pairs in the 

 same vicinity, to chase away the rival bird if he happened to 

 approach too nearly their peculiar territory. They seldom fly 

 more than a short distance at a time, and seem to trust for pro- 

 tection to the difficult access to their abodes. They evince a 

 great partiality for particular localities ; and on the road from En- 

 terprise to New Smyrna I found them exactly in the same places, 

 sometimes two or three miles apart, for three successive years. 

 Generally only a single pair is seen at a time ; but in one place 

 in the scrub mentioned above, near a large pond with a few pines 

 scattered about it, I found three pairs. When they live in such 

 localities as I have found them to prefer, they cannot do much 

 mischief by destroying the eggs or young of other birds, as you 

 may travel for miles through the scrub without seeing any other 

 small bird. Wherever there is a house near the scrub, the mock- 

 ing-bird and cardinal bird, and probably other small birds, make 

 their nests frequently ; but the jay is not fond of civilization, and 

 is seldom seen in such a situation. 



A nest found on the 15th of April in a scrub oak about three 

 feet from the ground, was built of small twigs, compactly and 

 carefully lined with fibres of the dwarf palmetto, that had appar- 



