X. 



A BIRD OF AFFAIRS. 



ONE of the most interesting birds I have 

 studied was a blue-jay; I may say is, for he 

 stands at this moment not six feet from me, his 

 whole mind intent upon the business of driving 

 small corks through a hole which they snugly 

 fit. He takes the cork, as he does everything, 

 lengthwise, and turns it about till he gets the 

 smaller end outside ; then pushes it into the 

 hole and pounds it, delivering straight and 

 rapid strokes with his iron beak, till it is not 

 only driven up to the head, but, since he has 

 found out that he can do so, till it drops out on 

 the other side, when, after an interested glance 

 to see where it has fallen, he instantly goes to 

 the floor for another, and repeats the perform- 

 ance. Hammering, indeed, is one of his chief 

 pleasures, and no woodpecker, whose special 

 mission it is supposed to be, can excel him ; in 

 excitement, in anger, when suffering from ennui 

 or from embarrassment, he always resorts to 



