on the Blue-Bearded Jay.



229



cake if handy. As Jays delight in washing, it is hardly

necessary to say that both birds are generally perfect in plumage,

and never know what it is to feel in the least degree unwell.


Although I only give dead mice to Jack, he once dropped

upon a stray youngster which was foolish enough to enter his

cage; and then I am sorry to say he displayed the cruelty

inherent in his savage nature; for, instead of killing the

unfortunate little beast with a blow on the skull, as some

sanguine students of Nature would like us to believe that all

predacious birds do, he simply held it between his feet, and

pulled off its limbs and swallowed them one at a time ; nor could

I get at him to interfere, so I had to console myself with the

hope that the victim’s sufferings were not very acute ; they were

certainly soon over.


When a dead mouse is given, it is always held between

the feet, not grasped by the claws after the manner of a hawk.

Generally the abdomen is first attacked, the powerful bill being

brought down with unerring precision repeatedly upon one spot,

until the skin is pierced ; then the latter is torn laterally, the

entrails are dragged out, the liver is eaten, and after the whole of

the interior of the body is devoured, the skull is cleared of skin,

broken by blows of the bill and the brains cleaned out; the skin

is then dropped, the legs being picked out and eaten later ; it

seems strange therefore, unless it was for the cruel satisfaction of

hearing its victim squeak, that the legs of the living mouse

should be eaten first.


As I observed before, Jack was very wild when I received

him ; but gradually, as he got to know and value me, he became

exceedingly tame and confiding. O11 two occasions, when his

upper mandible has grown too long for his comfort, I have

simply called him, shown him a pair of steel nail-clippers, and

(probably pleased with the bright metal) he has put his bill

through the wire and allowed me to snip off the long point ; all

he did was to rub his bill once on the perch, and, remaining

close to me, put down his head to have his crest tickled.


Jack is very fond of being tickled by me, either in the

side, on the breast, or on the top of his head ; he also allows



