THE STELLER JAY. a 
he never knows what the wonder pouches may contain, until he has ripped a 
hole in the side and inserted his piratical beak. 
The dense forests of Puget Sound are not so well patrolled by these 
feathered grafters as are the forests of the East by the true Blue Jay 
(Cyanocitta cristata). But then our bird has the advantage of denser cover, 
and we do not know how often we have been scrutinized or shadowed. Upon 
discovery the Steller Jay sets up a great outcry and makes off thru the thickets 
shrieking lustily. A favorite method of retreat is to flit up into the lower 
branches of a fir tree and, keeping close to the trunk, to ascend the succeeding 
limbs as by a spiral staircase. The bird, indeed, takes a childish delight in this 
mad exercise, and no sooner does he quit one tree-top than he dashes down 
to a neighboring tree to run another frenzied gamut. 
Owls have abundant cover in western Washington, but should one of 
them be startled by day, the Steller blue-coat is the first to note the villain’s 
flight. The alarm is sounded and an animated pursuit begins. When the 
Owl is brought to bay, the deafening objurgation of the Jays is not the least 
indignity which he is made to suffer. The Jay, in fact, seeks to make the 
world forget his own offenses by heaping obloquy upon this blinking sinner. 
The notes of the Steller Jay are harsh and expletive toa degree. Shaack, 
shaack, shaack is a common (and most exasperating) form; or, by a little 
stretch of the imagination one may hear jay, jay, jay. A mellow klook, klook, 
klook sometimes varies the rasping imprecations and serves to remind one 
that the Jay is cousin to the Crow. Other and minor notes there are for the 
lesser and rarer emotions, and some of these not unmusical. Very rarely the 
bird attempts song, and succeeds in producing a medley which quite satisfies 
her that he could if he would. 
C. stelleri, like C. cristata again, is something of a mimic. The notes of 
the Western Red-tail (Buteo borealis calurus) and other hawks are reproduced 
with especial fidelity. For such an effort the Jay conceals himself in the depths 
of a large-leafed maple or in a fir thicket, and his sole object appears to be that 
of terrorizing the neighboring song-birds. One such I heard holding forth 
from a shade tree on the Asylum grounds at Steilacoom. Uncanny sounds 
are, of course, not unknown here, but an exploratory pebble served to unmask 
the cheat, and drove forth a very much chastened Blue Jay before a company 
of applauding Juncoes. 
It is well known that the gentleman burglar takes a conscientious pride 
in the safety and welfare of his own home. Nothing shall molest fis dear 
ones. The Jay becomes secretive and silent as the time for nest-building 
approaches. The nest is well concealed in a dense thicket of fir saplings, or 
else set at various heights in the larger fir trees. If one but looks at it before 
the complement of eggs is laid the locality is deserted forthwith. If, however, 
the enterprise is irretrievably launched, the birds take care not to be seen in 
