Further Observations on Young Birds. 97 



jays is worth noting. Ten days after receiving them as 

 nestlings about a week or week and a half old, I placed in 

 their cage a shallow tin containing water. They took no 

 notice of it, having probably never seen water before, for 

 they were fed chiefly on sopped food, which gave them all 

 they required. Presently one of them hopped into it, 

 whether purposely or by accident it is difficult to say, 

 squatted in it, bending his legs, and at once fluttered his 

 feathers, as birds do when they bathe, though those of the 

 breast scarcely touched the water. The other seized the 

 edge of the tin in his bill, and then pecked at the inside, 

 thus wetting his beak He too fluttered his feathers in 

 a similar fashion, though he was not in the water at all. 

 A little later the first again entered the tin, and dipped 

 his breast under water ; this was followed by much 

 fluttering and splashing. The bird took a good bath, as 

 did the other shortly afterwards, and then spent half an 

 hour in a thorough grooming, with much fluttering of 

 wings, the crest feathers being constantly raised and 

 lowered, expressive of an emotional state. 



Mr. H. T. Charbonnier tells me of a similar observation 

 of his own. A magpie about five weeks old, which he had 

 reared from quite an early stage of its life, when placed in 

 a cage and supplied with a pan of water, made one or two 

 pecks at the surface, and then, outside the pan without 

 entering the water at all, proceeded to go through all the 

 gestures of a bird bathing, ducking its head, fluttering its 

 wings and tail, squatting down, and spreading itself out on 

 the ground. It afterwards and by degrees acquired the 

 habit of bathing really, and seemed always anxious for 

 a bath in rainy weather. 



The inquisitiveness of the jays was well marked. Soon 

 after being placed in a cage, they examined every corner, 

 every projecting bit of wire, and every mark on the wood 



H 



