44 MEMOIR OF 



of the woods, frequenting the thickest settlements 

 as well as the deepest recesses of the forest, where 

 his squalling voice often alarms the deer, to the 

 disappointment and mortification of the hunter; 

 one of whom informed me, that he made it a point, 

 in summer, to kill every jay he could meet with. 

 In the charming season of spring, when every thicket 

 pours forth harmony, the part performed by the jay 

 always catches the ear. He appears to be among 

 his fellow-musicians what the trumpeter is in a 

 band, some of his notes having no distant resem- 

 blance to the tones of that instrument. These he 

 has the faculty of changing through a great variety 

 of modulations, according to the particular humour 

 he happens to be in. "When disposed for ridicule, 

 there is scarce a bird whose peculiarities of song he 

 cannot tune his notes to. When engaged in the 

 blandishments of love, they resemble the soft chat- 

 terings of a duck, and, while he nestles among the 

 thick branches of the cedar, are scarce heard at a 

 few paces distance; but he no sooner discovers 

 your approach than he sets up a sudden and vehe- 

 ment outcry, flying off, and screaming with all his 

 might, as if he called the whole feathered tribes of 

 the neighbourhood to witness some outrageous usage 

 he had received. When he hops undisturbed among 

 the high branches of the oak and hickory, they be- 

 come soft and musical ; and his calls of the female, 

 a stranger would readily mistake for the repeated 

 screakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow. All these 

 he accompanies with various nods, jerks, and other 



