134 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY. 



doubt each has its definite meaning. More 

 rarely may be heard a clear and musical two- 

 note cry, sounding like " ke-lo ! ke-lo ! " This 

 seems to be something special in the jay lan- 

 guage, for not only is it peculiar and quite un- 

 like every other utterance, but I never saw the 

 bird when he delivered it, and I was long in tra- 

 cing it home to him. Aside from the cries of 

 war and victory, jays have a great variety of 

 notes of distress ; they can put more anguish 

 and despair into their tones than any other liv- 

 ing creature of my acquaintance. Some, indeed, 

 are so moving that the sympathetic hearer is sure 

 that, at the very least, the mother's offspring are 

 being murdered before her eyes ; and on rushing 

 out, prepared to risk his life in their defense, he 

 finds, perhaps, that a child has strayed near the 

 tree, or something equally dreadful has occurred. 

 Jays have no idea of relative values ; they could 

 not make more ado over a heart-breaking calamity 

 than they do over a slight annoyance. Some of 

 their cries, notably that of the jay baby, sound 

 like the wail of a human infant. As to one 

 curious utterance in the jay repertoire, I could 

 not quite make up my mind whether it was a 

 real call to arms, or intended as a joke on the 

 neighborhood. When a bird, without visible 

 provocation, suddenly burst out with this loud 

 two-note call, instantly every feathered individ- 



