72 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 
in his bill as he was loading up. Wilson ealls 
attention to the fact that by this habit of carrying 
off kernels and seeds, the jay becomes an impor- 
tant tree-planting agent. 
What a good business man the blue jay would 
make! All his motions are like the unique load- 
ing up performance — time-saving, decided, di- 
rect. Once during the first morning after his re- 
turn he flew down to the boxes from the tree over 
them and came so straight he looked as if falling 
through the air. He pecked at the bark of the 
trees as indifferently as he had examined the corn 
the squirrels had nibbled, but I thought he drank 
with some gusto. He seemed to be catching the 
rain drops that were running down the sides of 
the trees and filling the crevices of the bark. 
After he had flown off and the gray squirrels 
were comfortably settled at breakfast, he came 
dashing back round the corner in such a hurry 
he almost struck the squirrel on the lower corn 
box. The first thing I saw was a confusion of 
blue feathers and gray fur, and then a blue jay 
flying off to the evergreen, and a gray squirrel 
shaking his tail excitedly and starting from one 
side of the box to the other trying to collect his 
wits. By this time the blue jay had recovered 
from his surprise, and seeing that it was only a 
squirrel, hopped about in the spruce as full of 
business as if the collision had been planned. Not 
so with the poor squirrel! He sprang up on the 
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