THE PERCHING BIRDS. 123 



the blue jay's beauty. Those who have seen much 

 of this bird in its northern home find a great deal to 

 tell about it, but the reports are not such as to excite 

 much interest. 



Steller's Jay is a prominent Western species, with 

 habits not unlike those of its Eastern cousin. Dr. 

 Coues says of it, " It is difficult to describe the 

 notes of this jay, he is such a garrulous creature 

 and has such a variety of outcries." And again he 

 remarks, " it will eat anything eatable." 



J. K. Lord says of it, 



" Steller's Jay makes its presence known by the continual utterance 

 of a discordant scream ; hopping perpetually from bough to bough, 

 then darting down to nip an insect, performing short, erratic flights, 

 and jerking its crest of bright feathers up and down, its noisy song 

 seems everywhere. The Blue Jay appears the embodiment of rest- 

 lessness, and by sheer impudence attracts attention from even the 

 lone hunter. Fond of frequenting the haunts of man, jays are always 

 plentiful near Indian lodges or white men's shanties. By no means 

 epicurean in tastes, they readily devour anything, seeds, salmon, 

 grasshoppers, or venison. The nest, artfully concealed amidst the 

 thick foliage of a young pine-tree, is composed of moss, small twigs, 

 lichen, and fir-fronds, and lined with deer hair." 



The habits of all these jays differ in one respect 

 from those of the common jay of the Middle States, 

 for the latter show no fancy for human habitations. 

 Extreme weather may tempt them to a corn-crib, 

 and they will steal very cautiously to where pigs 

 have been slaughtered, but the familiarity so marked 

 in other species I have never known to be exhibited 

 by the blue jay of the Atlantic seaboard States. 



The Raven, that has figured for many centuries in 

 literature and folk-lore, and is looked upon with sus- 



