BIRDS OF THE WEST 45 



at Washington on final appeal looked so lightly on his misdeeds 

 that it let him out on parole. As a matter of fact he does more good 

 than evil. 



A bird with a voice like his would arouse your suspicion at 

 all times. If you should see him get angry you would be sure that 

 much of his talk should not be printed and when he makes love he 

 does it not as a dove would, nor as a gentleman should, but much as 

 a conceited French count might propose to an American heiress. He 

 bows and scrapes and dances and jabbers. You see this refers to 

 the male jay for though the words "garrulous" and "girl" are 

 said to have a common origin, it is not especially the lady jay that 

 is loquacious. 



He is conceited beyond endurance and the only two things in 

 his favor are his personal appearance and the fact that he plants 

 seeds, nuts and especially acorns. 



It would be too bad to lose him, for we have so few birds in 

 blue. The bluebird, the indigo bunting, the kingfisher and the jay 

 are about all. Nature is sparing of her blue and what is true of the 

 birds is true of the flowers. Perhaps rarity made purple the royal 

 color. Sir John Lubbock says that flowers pass through the stages 

 of green, white, yellow, and often red, before becoming blue. 



Like most of the family (crow), the jay builds a bulky nest 

 in almost any kind of a tree and of almost any old thing from twigs 

 to weeds and from roots to rags. Once in a while mud is used and 

 the four eggs are mud-colored and apparently mud-spotted. Mi- 

 nerva would have done better to have made him her favorite bird 

 instead of the owl, and she probably would have done so if he did 

 not have the persistent habit of talking too much. In other respects 

 he is wiser than an owl. 



CANADA JAY. 



About fifteen years ago while camping in the Black Hills we 

 had spread our table upon the ground beneath a large tree near a 

 bubbling spring, when to our surprise a number of birds of the 

 above description, swooped silently down upon the festive board and 

 helped themselves with the utmost freedom and good fellowship. 

 We were so astonished and even pleased that we welcomed the 

 coming guest but when they began to carry our lunch away with 



