1492 



THE PERCHING BIRDS 



The eggs vary in number from three to five, and in color are dirty white, blotched 

 with purplish gray and brown. Professor Newton writes: "More sprightly and 

 cunning birds than these jays cannot well be, whether caged or not. In their own 

 woods one hears their deep ringing kook, kook, kook, followed by a series of noises 

 which sound like a conversation carried on by two or three people in an unknown 

 tongue. One puts up a family party off the ground where they have been feasting 



\ 



MEXICAN LONG-CRESTED JAY. 



(Three-fifths natural size.) 



on the berries, and away they go through the- trees with their wavering unsteady 

 flight, every here and there a gleam of sunshine catching their tails, and turning 

 them into gigantic redstarts. Or when one halts for any purpose, there comes a 

 Siberian jay, at first stealthily; but soon, if he sees no sign of danger to him, he 

 displays himself openly, perching almost within arm's length, ruffling his long, 

 loose plumage, and calling to his neighbors." 



