THE CROW FAMILY 123 
As soon as Mr. Lowell saw what was the matter, 
he took out his knife to cut the strings that held 
them. At first when he came near, the old birds 
were very much frightened. They flew around 
his head and cried, and were going to fight him. 
But jays are wise birds, and in a moment they 
saw that he did not mean to hurt them. So they 
perched close by him, so near he could put his 
hand on them. Then they watched him while 
he cut the little ones loose. All of them could 
fly, and they did, at once. 
One of the nestlings had been so tightly held 
that one leg was withered and dead, but the next 
day Mr. Lowell saw him hopping about the gar- 
den path, on one leg, while his parents brought 
him food, and took great care of him. 
The blue jay, like most birds, is kind to others. 
One man found a little flock taking care of an 
old, blind jay. They fed him, and led him to 
water to bathe. They warned him of danger, 
and in every way looked out for his comfort as 
if he were a nestling. 
Besides being a singer, this bird is a mimic. 
He can imitate the songs of other birds, as well 
as many other sounds. A lady once had a blue 
jay who had fallen from the nest. She brought 
him up, and he was very tame. She told me that 
he learned to sing like a mockingbird, and did 
