JAYS 327 



every fresh contact brings forth some new and unsuspected 

 trait of Jay character. Its vocabulary is extensive. The 

 usual call is the well known "jay, jay" varied by "dah, dah" 

 or "hay, hay." At other times they say "cable, cable," "piss- 

 light, piss-light," "peduncle, peduncle," "pooh, pooh," "ha, 

 ha" "billy, billy, billy," "side-light, side-light," "hash, hash" 

 and many other variations, as well as imitations of the cries and 

 sounds of other birds and mammals. Once in mid-winter I 

 heard the song of the Catbird in the deep sheltered woods and 

 eagerly traced it up to make a new record, to find it was "only 

 a Jay." The rascal discovered me and said plainly that he 

 thought it was a great joke, calling repeatedly "jay, jay." 



In the west the nests are placed in various hard wood trees 

 at heights of ten to fifty feet, more generally not over twelve 

 or fifteen feet up in osage orange hedges, orchard trees, 

 cottonwoods, oaks, garden shrubbery etc. The birds were very 

 tame and found as well in the streets of towns and villages and 

 about farmhouses as in the open country tracts. 



Here in Maine the species has a rather different tendency, 

 especially in the northern sections. It prefers to resort more 

 to the wilder, deeper woods and swamps, nesting in firs, spruces 

 and evergreens as well as in deciduous trees, usually not over 

 ten or twelve feet from the ground and near an old clearing 

 or long disused wood road. With us they have eggs late in 

 May or early June. A nest found June fourth contained four 

 eggs. This nest was composed outwardly of twigs and rootlets 

 lined with fine black rootlets and some feathers. It was four 

 inches in height outside by two inside, six in external diameter 

 and four inches in internal diameter. 



The eggs measure 1.14 x 0.86, 1.11 x 0.85, 1.10 x 0.85, 

 1.11 X 0.84. Three to six, generally four eggs are laid, and 

 these are olive green, pea green or rarely bluish in ground 

 color, spotted and blotched chiefly about the larger end with 

 brown and lavender, occasionally wreathed at the larger end or 

 evenly spotted all over with finer dots. Both birds assist in 



