BLUE JAY. ve 
highest box, stretching straight up on his hind 
legs, with fore paws pressed against his breast 
and ears erect, his heart beating his sides and his 
tail hanging down shamefacedly as he looked 
anxiously toward the spruce where the blue jay 
had gone. Gradually the fear on his face changed 
to a comical look of bewilderment. Could that 
- bird flying about as if nothing had happened be 
what struck him, or had he gone to sleep over his 
corn and had a bad dream? He settled down on 
his haunches with an expression of inane confu- 
sion, and finally turned back into his corn box, a 
sorry contrast to the clear-headed blue Jay. 
This was the first morning the jays came, and 
we were greatly entertained watching the develop- 
ment of affairs. There were only three birds 
that were regular patrons of the corn barrel res- 
taurant, while there were thirteen gray squirrels, 
and when the squirrels got over their first sur- 
prise they seemed to consider the jays an insig- 
nificant minority. There were no claw-to-bill 
tussles, for when a jay was eating on a corn box 
by the side of the tree, and a squirrel ran down 
the trunk right above him, and gave a jump that 
promised to land him on the jay’s head, the bird 
would quietly fly off. But such meekness was no 
sign of discomfiture. The jays came back as often 
as they were driven away. If the squirrels ob- 
jected to their eating on a corner of the box with 
them, the jays would hop down on the snow and 
