44 ; EVERYDAY BIRDS 
people who do not know the jay when they see 
it. In late winter, say toward the end of Febru- 
ary, when I begin to be on the lookout for the 
first bluebird of the year, I am all but certain to 
have word brought to me by some one of the 
village school-teachers that bluebirds have al- 
ready come. Johnny This or Jimmy That saw 
one near his house several weeks ago! That 
“several weeks ago’ makes me suspicious, and 
on following up the matter I discover that John 
and James have seen a large blue bird, larger 
than a robin, with some black and white on him 
—all white underneath —and wearing a tall 
crest or topknot. Then I know that they have 
mistaken a blue bird for a bluebird. They have 
seen a blue jay, a bird of a very different feather. 
He has been with us all winter, as he always is, 
and has been in sight from my windows daily. 
So easy is it for boysand men to guess at things, 
and guess wrong. 
The jay is a relative of the crow, and has 
much of the crow’s cleverness, with more than 
the crow’s beauty. Like the crow, if he has an 
errand near houses, he makes a point of doing it 
in the early morning before the folks who live 
in the houses have begun to stir about. In fact, 
he knows us, in some respects at least, better 
than we know him, and habitually takes advan- 
