Jays and Crows 183 



the same tree and the tree not a large one at 

 that; but according to the old saying that one 

 blue-bird does not make Spring, so a single in- 

 stance is far from being conclusive in the establish- 

 ment of any allegation. 



Now if the court please, I will introduce here, 

 marked Exhibit A, a scientific examination of 

 the stomachs of two hundred and ninety-two Jays, 

 killed in the breeding season, in almost every state 

 in the Union, the work being under the direction 

 of the Biological Survey in Washington. The 

 results are certainly astonishing and probably to 

 no one more than the amateurish investigators 

 and hear-say mongers bringing this action. Out 

 of the whole number of investigations made it 

 was found that only five could have been guilty 

 of anything like nest robbing. Three contained 

 fragments of shell; one undoubtedly, that of a 

 smaller bird; another stomach had a fragment of 

 shell that might or might not have been that of 

 a domestic fowl, and the third seemed to be a 

 fragment of the shell of a grouse. Two stomachs 

 contained remains of birds. One the undoubted 

 fragment. of the body of a small bird recently 

 hatched ; the other stomach had in it the feet and 

 claws of a fully-mature bird, variety unknown. 



Now Gentlemen of the Jury, let us go back and 

 weigh and estimate this evidence of guilt, and I 

 think we will find that it will furnish precious little 



