THE BLUE JAY. 423 



as a squirrel." The scientific report on the Bkie Jay, issued by 

 the Department of Agriculture, is very favorable to the bird. Near- 

 ly three hundred stomachs were examined, special search being 

 made for traces of birdi' or birds' eggs, with the result that shells 

 of small birds' eggs were found in three stomachs and remains of 

 birds in only two. The report also shows that Jays eat many nox- 

 ious insects, grasshoppers, caterpillers, etc. ; that its favorite food is 

 mast, acorns, etc, and that it does very little harm to agriculture, 

 since all but a small amount of the grain eaten is gleaned from 

 the fields after harvest. 



In "The Succession of Forest Trees," Thoreau adds his testi- 

 mony to the statement made long before by the venerated William 

 Bartram : "The Blue Jay is one of the most useful agents in the 

 economy of nature for the disseminating of forest trees. Their 

 chief employment during the autumnal season is foraging to supply 

 their winter store. In doing this they drop abundance of seed in 

 their flight over fields, hedges and by fences where they alight to 

 deposit them in fence holes, etc. It is remarkable what numbers of 

 young trees rise up in fields and pastures after a wet winter and 

 spring. These birds alone are capable in a few years' time to 

 replant all the cleared lands." 



There is great diflference of opinion as to the possibility of tam- 

 ing the Blue Jay. Some say he makes an interesting pet, while 

 others pronounce him "unsociable and untamable." Mr. Oliver 

 Gibbs, writing from Melbourne Beach, Florida, gives us the benefit 

 of his interesting experience as follows : 



"One of the first things we did on taking a cottage here last 

 December was to put up a bird food-box on the corner of the back 

 porch. The first bird to get into it was the Florida Jay, pet name 

 'Jack.' There were soon quite a number, and when we sat out 

 there to sun ourselves, they would come into our laps and eat out 

 of our hands. Besides the Jacks we called around us the Cardi- 

 nals, the Jorees, the Mocking Birds and a few other sweet singers, 

 but none came to our hands but the Jacks. * * * 



"In March, 1904, I began clearing up the place where I am now 

 summering, and have lived alone here, 'keeping bach.' It is an old 

 pineapple plantation, deserted to take care of its own mortgage 

 after the freeze of '95. There was a house on it, into which I 

 moved, surrounded by scrub timber, except the Indian River front- 

 age. No human being seen here for weeks at a time except my- 

 self and an old colored man I had to help me daytimes. It was a 

 good place to get acquainted with all the wild things, more especially 

 the birds. At first all were shy, and it was weeks and weeks before 

 I could get a Jack onto the porch. I put up a bird box and table 

 a few rods away from the house, which a pair of old Jacks, having 

 a nest close by, took possession of and fed their young from. As 



