70 THE BLUE JAY. 



satisfaction in mocking and teasing other birds, particularly 

 the Little Hawk (F. sparverius), imitating his cry whenever 

 he sees him, and squealing out as if caught; this soon 

 brings a number of his own tribe around him, who all join 

 in the frolic, darting about the Hawk, and feigning the cries 

 of a bird sorely wounded and already under the clutches 

 of its devourer; while others lie concealed in the bushes, 

 ready to second their associates in the attack. But this ludi- 

 crous farce often terminates tragically. The Hawk, singling 

 out one of the most insolent and provoking, sweeps upon 

 him in an unguarded moment, and offers him up a sacrifice 

 to his hunger and resentment. In an instant the tune is 

 changed; all their buffoonery vanishes, and loud and inces- 

 sant screams proclaim their disaster." 



Like his near relative, the Crow, he takes delight in tor- 

 menting the Owls. 



But lacking as the Blue Jay is in anything like gentle or 

 winning ways, he might still meet with a fair toleration 

 were it not for his thievish and cruel habits. How he will 

 devour the fresh eggs from the bird's nests in his neighbor- 

 hood on the sly, gobble up even the tender young, some- 

 times in his barbarous daintiness taking nothing but the 

 eyes and brain! how he will pick out the eyes of a wounded 

 grouse; how he will steal corn from the bin, fruit from the 

 garden, and grain from the barn, has been noted by orni- 

 thologists in general. I have seen him lugging around an old 

 sparrow in the tops of the trees, in the month of May, pick- 

 ing out the eyes and brain at his leisure, and seemingly 

 without the least compunction; while, like all other tyrants, 

 when the true test comes, he is by no means brave, often 

 " turning tail " to birds much smaller than himself. In view 

 of all this, who will pity him when, during the long winter 

 months, he is obliged to subsist on the frozen apples of the 



