228 THE JAY. 



fluttered, you may take the eggs out of the nest, 

 and blow upon them, and put them in your mouth 

 if you choose, or change their original position when 

 you replace them in the nest, notwithstanding which 

 the bird will come back to them (even though it be 

 a ringdove), and continue to sit on them as atten- 

 tively as before. 



The jay being one of those birds which have their 

 brilliant colours prior to their first moulting, you 

 will find the male and female so much alike, that it 

 will be no easy matter to distinguish the one from 

 the other. 



The young of this bird are born blind : of course, 

 the parent bird never covers the eggs with any part 

 of the materials which form the nest, when she has 

 occasion to be absent. 



Here let me remark the immense difference that 

 exists betwixt a newly hatched bird with its eyes 

 open, and one newly hatched with its eyes closed. 

 The first can walk and find its food in a very short 

 time; the second is helpless in the extreme for 

 many days, and cannot support its own weight. A 

 scientific friend in the United States of North 

 America has asked my opinion of our English ac- 

 count concerning a young cuckoo, which, on the 

 very day that it was hatched, was actually seen 

 retrograding up the side of a hedge sparrow's nest 

 with a young hedge sparrow on its back. After 

 reaching the top, it rested for a moment, and then, 

 with a jerk, threw off its load quite clear of the nest. 

 No bird in the creation could perform such an as- 

 tounding feat under such embarrassing circum- 



