BLUE JAY. 191 



dish naturalist in forming them into a separate genus by them- 

 selves. 



The Blue Jay builds a large nest, frequently in the cedar, 

 sometimes in an apple-tree, lines it with dry fibrous roots, and 

 lays five eggs, of a dull olive, spotted with brown. The male 

 is particularly careful of not being heard near the place, making 

 his visits as silently and secretly as possible. His favourite food 

 is chesnuts, acorns, and Indian corn. He occasionally feeds on 

 bugs and caterpillars, and sometimes pays a plundering visit to 

 the orchard, cherry-rows, and potatoe-patch ; and has been 

 known, in times of scarcity, to venture into the barn, through 

 openings between the weather-boards. In these cases he is ex- 

 tremely active and silent, and if surprised in the fact makes his 

 escape with precipitation, but without noise, as if conscious of 

 his criminality. 



Of all birds he is the most bitter enemy to the Owl. No sooner 

 has he discovered the retreat of one of these, than he summons 

 the whole feathered fraternity to his assistance, who surround 

 the glimmering solitaire, and attack him from all sides, raising 

 such a shout, as may be heard, in a still day, more than half a 

 mile off. When in my hunting excursions I have passed near this 

 scene of tumult, I have imagined to myself that I heard the 

 insulting party venting their respective charges with all the 

 virulency of a Billingsgate mob; the owl, meanwhile, returning 

 every compliment with a broad goggling stare. The war becomes 

 louder and louder, and the owl, at length forced to betake him- 

 self to flight, is followed by the whole train of his persecutors, 

 until driven beyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction. 



But the Blue Jay himself is not guiltless of similar depreda- 

 tions with the owl, and becomes, in his turn, the very tyrant 

 he detested, when he sneaks through the woods, as he frequently 

 does, and among the thickets and hedge-rows, plundering every 

 nest he can find of its eggs, tearing up the callow young by 

 piecemeal, and spreading alarm and sorrow around him. The 

 cries of the distressed parents soon bring together a number of 

 interested spectators, (for birds, in such circumstances, seem 





