140 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



5. Behead three times a cheery songster and leave a small rodent. 



6. Behead three times the reed bird and leave an exclamation and a part 

 of a chain. 



7. Behead three times one of the largest warblers and leave a consonant. 



8. Behead three times the ground robin and leave a swift movement of 

 the eyelids. 



9. Behead three times a black and white bird (of California), and leave 

 what most boys like to eat. 



10. Behead three times a common sweet singer of the south and leave a 

 flycatcher. 



11. Behead three times a bird which creeps up and down tree trunks, 

 and leave what eggs do under certain conditions. 



12. Behead three times a very common bird, and leave a preposition. 



THE BLUE JAY. 



The Blue Jay is a beautiful bird with his blue cap tied lightly under his 

 chin with a black ribbon. 



The Blue Jay is often condemned for robbing small birds' nests and eat- 

 ing young birds. They may do so occasionally but I don't believe they do 

 it verv often. A great many Blue Jays are around here, also many other 

 kinds of birds, and I have never seen them rob a bird's nest. 



One day we saw a Jay in the top of a plum tree and watched him to see 

 what he was about, to know whether he was eating fruit or not, for many 

 would sav he was a thief and blame him without knowing. We watched eare- 

 fullv and saw him eating tent caterpillars. The tree was nearly covered 

 with their webs and soon would have been killed. The Jays continued eat- 

 ing until every one was gone, and so saved the tree. 



One day we saw a Blue Jay in a corn field, picking at an ear of corn. We 

 had our opera glasses with us, so we watched him through them and saw 

 him pull a worm out and eat it. 



I once saw a Blue Jay carrying a paper bag. blown up. as I suppose, with 

 air, to his nest. I often wondered what he wanted with it. 



I have seen a Blue Jay, when he discovered a snake, call till he collected 

 a flock of Blue Jays and then they would kill it together. 



Blue Jays become quite tame when they are fed around the house. We 

 have fed them here all winter on our bird shelf. They eat nuts. suet, and 

 bread crumbs. 



I put out some suet one morning and cut it hurriedly, and most of it was 

 caught together by the skin. A Jay came and stuffed all he could of the 

 small pieces, then took up the piece and flew away to eat it. 



A pair of Jays have started a nest just in front of our bedroom window 



