DKOLLERIES OF THE WOODS. 189 



to an extraordinary extreme. It bores innumerable little 

 holes in the bark and trunks of trees, in each of which it 

 wedges firmly an acorn with its bill. They may be heard 

 hammering away at this work the live-long day. The whole 

 family of squirrels all the burrowing animals together, with 

 many other birds besides those enumerated, have this same 

 propensity for hiding their food in the ground or elsewhere. 

 It is thus preserved from decay, and whether used by the 

 creature depositing them or not, they grow into trees and re- 

 new the earth with vegetation. 



Thus do these little creatures, in the economy of nature, 

 become the planters of our forests. 



So universal is the Blue Jay's reputation for mischievous 

 and impish tricks of every kind, that the negroes of the 

 South regard them with a strange mixture of superstition 

 and deadly hate. The belief among them is, that it is the 

 special agent of the devil here on earth carries tales to him 

 and all kinds of slanderous gossip, particularly about negroes, 

 and most especially that they supply him with fuel to burn 

 them with. Their animosity is entirely genuine and implac- 

 able. 



When a boy, I caught many of them in traps, during the 

 snows, and the negro boys who generally accompanied me 

 on my rounds to the traps, always begged eagerly for the Jay 

 Birds we captured to be surrendered to them, and the next 

 instant their necks were wrung amid the shouts of laughter. 



Alas, for the fate of our feathered Euphuist ! yet he was 

 " a fellow of infinite wit !" 



