288 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



tiful colors and lively motions. It is impossible to deny that 

 their reputation is deserved. One of them, in Charleston, de- 

 stroyed all the birds in an aviary. A flying squirrel was once 

 put into the cage of a blue jay for one night, and on the fol- 

 lowing day, it was found killed and partly eaten ; but, savage 

 as he is, his courage is not proof; many smaller birds will 

 drive him away from their nest ; he, therefore, creeps to it in 

 their absence, and will thus steal round a Avhole neighborhood 

 daily, to devour the new-laid eggs. He sometimes frightens 

 away the smaller birds, by imitating the sparrow hawk's voice. 

 In this power of mimicry he excels ; and Avhen domesticated, 

 he counterfeits the sounds and voices of the household so natu- 

 rally as often to occasion much perplexity and confusion. 



The blue jay breeds generally in the United States. Here 

 it makes a coarse nest of twigs and fibrous roots, on some for- 

 est or orchard tree. The eggs are four or five, of a dull olive, 

 spotted with brown. 



The favorite food of the blue jay consists of chestnuts, 

 acorns and Indian corn. It always breaks the corn; and for 

 this purpose holds it between its feet, and hammers it with its 

 bill. But almost everything eatable, even potatoes, sometimes 

 are included in its bill of fare, and it should not be omitted, that 

 they render service by destroying insects and caterpillars in 

 great numbers. 



The Black-cap Titmouse, Parus atricapillus, is better 

 known by the name of Chicadee, an imitation of its note in 

 Avinter, when it is exploring the trees in all directions to find 

 insects and their grubs or eggs, Avhich latter form its favorite 

 food. By their labors in this way they are of eminent service, 

 particularly in keeping down the numbers of the canker-AVorm, 

 a pest Avhich human ingenuity is Avholly unable to reach. 

 When these are Avanting, they subsist on various seeds, hold- 

 ing them in the claAvs, and picking them open Avith the bill. 

 They often come near houses also, in search of small bits of 

 meat, or the crumbs Avhich are swept out at the door. They 

 seem perfectly indifi"erent to the change of seasons, moving 



