252 WOODLAND CREATURES 



to a quietness which is almost morose. It no 

 longer chatters as it goes, but slips through the 

 woods as silently as a shadow. You may then 

 listen the long day through and never hear a 

 jay utter a sound. One might imagine the 

 cheery chatterers had gone, leaving the trees 

 sober and quiet without them, but here and 

 there one catches a glimpse of a white rump, a 

 dark wing, or those bright blue wing coverts, 

 betraying that the gay owners are there all the 

 time. The fact is that with the advent of the 

 nesting season a great change comes over the 

 jay; the care-free joyous bird is transformed 

 into a shy careful creature, slipping quietly through 

 the trees, and uttering only the most subdued 

 of chuckles, so as to escape notice and not draw 

 attention to its nest. It thus escapes observation, 

 and its nest is difficult to find, so that more often 

 than not the family are launched into the 

 world before one is aware that there was a 

 nest near at hand. The nest is usually built 

 in bushes in the woods at from five to twenty 

 feet from the ground, and is an open one, made 

 of sticks and twigs, strengthened with a little 

 earth, and lined with fine roots. The eggs are 

 not unlike those of a blackbird, though, of 

 course, bigger, but the spotting is much finer, 

 and as a rule there is a black hairline at the 

 bigger end. 



When the young leave the nest they remain 

 with their parents, roaming the woods, and 

 waking the echoes with their chattering, for, 



