BLUE JAY. 75 



flock of them on Black Mountain. From the top 

 of the mountain the wilderness looked like a sea 

 of forest-clad hills, with an occasional reef out- 

 lined by surf, for the largest lakes seemed like 

 tracery in the vast expanse of forest. The im- 

 pressive stillness was broken only by the rare 

 cries of a pair of hawks that circled over the 

 mountain ; for the most part they soared, silent as 

 the wilderness below them. Coming down into 

 the forest primeval, where the majestic hemlocks 

 towered straight toward the sky, and their mas- 

 sive knotted roots bound down the granite bowl- 

 ders that showed on the mountain side there we 

 found the blue jays in their home. A flock of 

 them lived together, feeding on wild berries and 

 beechnuts, sporting among the ferns and mosses, 

 and drinking from the brook that babbled along 

 near the trail. What a home our handsome birds 

 had chosen ! But the memory of the spot is 

 dreary. Unmoved by the beauty of the scene, to 

 which the blue jays gave color and life ; unawed 

 by the benedicite of the hemlocks ; betraying the 

 trust of the friendly birds, the boy of the party 

 crept into their very home and shot down one 

 after another of the family as they stood resistless 

 before him. To-day the pitiful lament of the 

 brave old birds haunts me, for, forgetting to fear 

 for themselves, those that were left flew about in 

 wild distress, and their cries of almost human 

 suffering reached us long after we had left the 

 desecrated spot. 



