222 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



so quickly over that I cannot say positively 

 that it was anything more than an optical 

 illusion. The next moment all hands took 

 flight with loud screams. They did not go 

 far, and presently crossed the road in front 

 of me, still screaming lustily, for no reason 

 that I could discover signs of. However, the 

 blue jay is as far as possible from being a 

 fool, and whenever he talks it is safe conclud- 

 ing that he has something to say. 



It has long been an opinion of mine that 

 the jay language is worthy of systematic 

 study. Some man with a gift of patience 

 and a genius for linguistics should undertake 

 a jay dictionary ; setting down not only all 

 jay words and phrases, but giving us, as far 

 as possible, their meaning and their English 

 equivalents. It would make a sizable vol- 

 ume, and would be a real contribution to 

 knowledge. 



All bird language, I have no doubt, is full 

 of significance. It has been evolved ex- 

 actly as human language has been, and while 

 it is presumably less copious and less nicely 

 shaded than ours, it is probably less radically 

 unlike it than we may have been accustomed 



