HABITS OF THE BLUE JAY. 283 



" See him of a fine spring morning in love-making time ! See him rise up and down upon 

 the mossy limb, his gay crest bent in quick and frequent salutation, while a rich, round, 

 thrilling love-note rolls liquidly from off his honeyed tongue. Then see him spring in air 

 with his wide wings, azure and white, and dark-barred, graceful tail, spread to the admiring 

 gaze of her he woos, float round and round her fairer form, then to return again in rapturous 

 fervor to her side, to overwhelm his glowing charms with yet more subduing graces. 



" But the fun of it all is, to see our euphuist practising these seductive arts by himself. 

 You will often catch him alone, thus making love to his own beauty with an ardor fully equal 

 to that of the scene we have just described ; indeed, I am not sure that it does not surpass it ; 

 for, like other dandies, he is most in love with his own beauty. It is the richest and most 

 fantastic scene I know of among the comicalities of the natural world, to catch him in one of 

 these practising humors ; he does court to his own charms with such a gay and earnest 

 enthusiasm ; he apes all the gestures and love-lorn notes of his seemingly volcanic amours, and 

 turning his head back, gazes on his own fine coat with such fantastic earnest, that one can 

 hardly resist roaring with laughter. 



"So jealous is he of his sole prerogative of supervision over the interest and welfare of his 

 neighbors, that he is forever on the look-out for all interloping stragglers. Every racoon 

 that shows his inquisitive nose is assailed with vehement clamors and angry snappings of 

 beaks, which compel him, in terror for his eyes, to return to his home. Our friend Jay is said 

 to attribute the nocturnal habits of racoons, wild cats, opossums, owls, etc., to their appre- 

 hension of his valorous vigilance by daylight. Be the facts of the case what they may, no one 

 of these gentry, nor mole, nor mink, nor weasel, can make its appearance without being beset 

 by the obstreperous screams of this audacious knave. Nor does he confine his operations to 

 the defence of his foraging-ground from these depredators, from whom he has little to fear of 

 personal danger, on account of his superior activity. But he even sometimes does assail the 

 lightning- winged and lordly hawk ; these scenes are very characteristic and very amusing, and 

 I have frequently witnessed them." 



The Blue Jay is a familiar bird in every part of the American Continent. The entire 

 family to which this bird belongs, and of which it is a very conspicuous member, is nearly 

 cosmopolitan as to distribution, and is distinguished by the remarkable intelligence of all its 

 members. Its habits are striking, peculiar, and full of interest, often evincing sagacity, fore- 

 thought, and intelligence strongly akin to reason. "Those traits are common to the whole 

 family." N. A. Birds. Wary as this bird is in the settled parts of the country, in the 

 western prairies, it is half domestic. In one of the principal streets of Richmond, Indiana, a 

 nest was built in a lilac-bush near a window of a dwelling. In Kansas the Jay is equally 

 familiar, and is more highly colored than in the east. 



Wilson says of him : "He appears to be among his fellow-musicians what a trumpeter is 

 in a band ; some of his notes having no distant resemblance to the tones of that instrument. 

 These lie has the faculty of changing, through a great variety of modulations, according to 

 the peculiar humor 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 chatterings of a duck ; and while he nestles among the thick 

 branches of a cedar are scarce heard at a few paces distant. But he no sooner discovers your 

 approach than he sets up a sudden and vehement outcry, flying off and screaming with al L 

 his might, as if he would call the whole feathered tribe to witness some outrageous usage he 

 had received. When he hops among the oaks and hickory they become soft and musical. 

 All these he accompanies with various nods and jerks and other gesticulations, for which the 

 Jays are so remarkable. 



The power of mimicry possessed by the Jay, though different from, is hardly surpassed 

 by that of the mocking-bird. It imitates the cry of a hawk so closely as to drive the small 

 birds to cover, and excite immediate consternation in the poultry-yard. An experienced 

 bird-fancier has found them more ingenious, cunning, and teachable than any other species 

 of bird he has ever attempted to instruct. The Blue Jay appears to belong exclusively to 

 America. 



