BIRD NOTES. 



About a year ago I observed a blue 

 jay in a neighboring yard and thought 

 how nice it would be if we could' secure 

 him and his mate for daily visitors 

 through the dreary winter. So arming 

 myself with a plentiful supply of crumbs 

 I crossed the road and under the tree 

 where I first saw him I scattered a few 

 crumbs and as I retraced my steps I scat- 

 tered a few rtiore, and when I reached 

 the window boxes of my own home I 

 covered two of these with the remaining 

 crumbs, as tempting a feast as any bird 

 could wish. The very next morning he 

 came, very shy indeed at first, just alight- 

 ing for a morsel and then away to a 

 neighboring tree to devour it more leis- 

 urely. The next day another came and 

 soon another and another, till in less than 

 a fortnight I had ten of those feathered 

 beauties daily visitors to my windows. 

 Then began in earnest my study of the 

 blue jay. I had always been his friend 

 and could not believe many of the scan- 

 dalous stories told of him. First I stud- 

 ied his diet. I found he cared but 

 little for corn and oats, but pieces of 

 toasted bread, bits of fat were his espe- 

 cial dainties. One day I put on the boxes 

 the scraps from leaf lard, also some bits 

 of toast. I saw two that morning take 

 a piece of bread, thrust it into the fat 

 until thoroughly besmeared and then fly 

 away. Tliey did this several times. My 

 ten blue jays would, in the course of a 

 few hours, carry away a two-quart meas- 

 ure of scraps of a suitable size. They 

 were also fond of the trimmings of steak, 

 but cared little for lean meat. They 

 came for their daily meal about eight 

 in the morning, and though they took 

 occasional lunches through the day, they 

 never called for food except in the morn- 

 ing. If their call of "Jay. Jay" did not 

 bring their food as promptly as they 

 wished, some of the bolder ones would 

 peck with their bills on the window 

 panes. 



One pleasant day I noticed my flock 

 in some trees near the house. Some 

 of them were preening their feathers ; 



others were hopping from branch to 

 branch and others were busy picking 

 something from the trees. I determined 

 to find out what they were doing and so 

 on examining the tree on which the birds 

 were at work I found little clusters of 

 eggs — caterpillar eggs they proved to be. 

 One great point for my bluebird friend ! 

 The birds were not nearly as pugnacious 

 toward the English sparrows or toward 

 each other as are other little pests. 



Soon after the middle of February 

 I noticed dififerent notes in the 

 call of one, and I found, too, 

 when he uttered these he would move 

 up and down upon the branch where he 

 rested. It seemed as if the rising and 

 falling helped him in the utterance. It 

 seemed to be a call peculiar tO' himself 

 and not one he made to mimic another 

 bird. 



My flock was very slender and 

 graceful, but before winter was gone 

 many had grown quite portly and as- 

 sumed a kind of dignity befitting their 

 obesity. As the warm days of April 

 came they returned less and less fre- 

 quently, and at last we thought our win- 

 ter friends had flown. Toward the last of 

 the month, one cold bleak day I looked 

 out and the ten beauties were scattered 

 among the branches of the trees, and 

 such a noisy time they had, but dis- 

 cordant as it was, we all enjoyed their 

 farewell visit. 



It has been said that the jay 

 lays hei- eggs in the nests of other 

 birds. I do not think this true, 

 Ifor twO' bird lovers in my vicinity have 

 seen blue jays' nests. It is not a very 

 elegant afifair, but serves its purpose verv 

 well. 



That he devours young birds, statis- 

 tics show that among two hundred and 

 eighty stomachs examined only three 

 •showed traces of eggs and two of young 

 birds, and it has been shown that he 

 destroys many noxious insects, moths 

 and their cocoons, especially of one that 

 is injurious to grapes. 



Bertie M. Phillips. 



203 



