BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 241 



the house-tops and visiting around the barns. They 

 spend most of their time in the air, where they cir- 

 cle and tumble like professional acrobats in heels- 

 over-head movements, and close their act by a long 

 slide, like a parachute coming to earth. These 

 strange performances are accompanied by a series 

 of weird croakings and cries, in which all the group 

 of performers participate. They give their show 

 during the strongest gale, and whirl, tumble, soar, 

 twist, and glide, like a bunch of frolicking sea-gulls 

 over the Gulf of Mexico. Why they take so much 

 joy in the raging storm, no one knows. However, 

 it must be remembered that, notwithstanding their 

 delightful acts, they are remorseless pirates, and 

 rob, plunder, and murder the young of other birds, 

 and destroy their eggs whenever the opportunity 

 comes. They are equalled only in their piracy by 

 their contemporaries, the Alaskan jays, who are the 

 northern representatives of the Canadian jay, and 

 like him, are called "camp-robbers" and "whisky- 

 jacks." These pirates are welcome visitors to the 

 camps, however, because of their clever and auda- 

 cious tricks in seeking food. When encouraged, 

 they become very tame, and are a source of never- 

 ending amusement in the Arctic camps. 



The strangest of all aerial actors is the parson 

 bird of New Zealand. It has two white tufts which 



