BLUE JAY. 71 



return in spring, teasing the young observer by 

 imitating the cry of the redtailecl hawk. But if 

 the fancy takes them they spend the winter with 

 us, showing comparatively little of the timidity 

 they feel in some localities. 



Last fall a party of jays stayed here for some 

 time, but when I was congratulating myself on 

 having them for the winter, they left, and did not 

 return till the middle of January. Then one 

 morning one of them appeared suddenly on a tree 

 in front of the window. He seemed to have been 

 there before, for he flew straight down to the corn 

 boxes by the dining-room. The gray squirrels 

 had nibbled out the sweetest part of the kernels, 

 and he acted dissatisfied with what was left, drop- 

 ping several pieces after he had picked them up. 

 But at last he swallowed a few kernels and then 

 took tfiree or four in his bill at once and flew up 

 in a maple. He must have deposited some of 

 them in a crotch at the body of the tree, for after 

 he had broken one in two under his claw strik- 

 ing it with " sledge-hammer blows " he went back 

 to the crotch, picked up something, flew back on 

 the branch, and went through the process over 

 again. The second time he flew down to the corn 

 boxes he did the same thing ate two or three 

 kernels, and then filled his bill full and flew off 

 this time out of sight. Since then I have often 

 seen him carry his corn off in the same way, giv- 

 ing his head a little toss to throw the kernels back 



