FIRST WEEK] March 65 



another blue form may occasionally pass us, for blue jays 

 are more noticeable now than at any other time of the 

 year. Although not by any means a rare bird, with us 

 jays are shy and wary. In Florida their southern cousins 

 are as familiar as robins, without a trace of fear of man- 

 kind. What curious notes our blue jays have a creaking, 

 wheedling, rasping medley of sounds coming through the 

 leafless branches. At this time of year they love acorns 

 and nuts, but in the spring " their fancy turns to thoughts 

 of " eggs and young nestlings, and they are accordingly 

 hated by the small birds. Nevertheless no bird is quicker 

 to shout and scream " Thief! Robber!" at some harmless 

 little owl, than are these blue and white rascals. 



You may seek in vain to discover the first sign of 

 nesting among the birds. 

 Scarcely has winter set in in 

 earnest, you will think, when 

 the tiger-eyed one of the 

 woods the great horned 

 owl will have drifted up 

 to some old hawk's nest, and 

 laid her white spheres fairly 



WHITE-THROAT SINGING. 



in the snow. When you dis- 

 cover her " horns" above the nest lining of dried leaves, 

 you may find that her fuzzy young owls are already 

 hatched. But these owls are an exception, and no other 

 bird in our latitude cares to risk the dangers of late 

 February or early March. 



March is sometimes a woodpecker month, and almost 

 any day one is very likely to see, besides the flicker, the 



