BIKDS. 169 



other birds, are the horny oppeiiduges from the tips of seven of 

 the lesser quill feathers, which stand bare of beards, and have 

 the colour and gloss of the best red sealing-wax. 



The Roller is not less beautiful than any of the former. The 



" But the blue jay himself is not guiltless of similar depredations with the 

 owl, and becomes iu his turn the very tyrant he detected, when he sneaks 

 through the woods, as he frequently does, and among the thickets and 

 hedge-rows, plundering every nest he ran find of its eggs, tearing up tha 

 callow young by piecemeal, and spreading alarm and sorrow around him. 

 The cries of the distressed parents soon bring together a number of in. 

 terested spectators (for birds in such circumstances seem truly to sjTiipa- 

 tliise with each other,) and he is sometimes attacked with such spirit as to 

 be under the necessity of making a speedy retreat. 



" He will sometimes assault small birds, with the intention of killing and 

 devouring them : an instance of which I myself once witnessed, over a 

 piece of woods near the borders of Schuylkill ; where I saw him engaged 

 for more then five minutes pursuing what I took to be a species of motacilla 

 (w. maculosa, yellow rump,) wheeling, darting, and doubling in the air, 

 and, at last, to my great satisfaction, got disappointed in the escape of his 

 intended prey. In times of great extremity, when his hoard or magazine 

 is frozen up, buried in snow, or perhaps exhausted, he becomes very vora. 

 cious, and will make a meal of whatever carrion or other animal substance 

 comes in the way, and has been found regaling himself on the bowels of a 

 robin {Ixirdus tnigratoriux) in less than fi^■e minutes after it was shot. 



" There are, however, individual exceptions to this general character for 

 plunder and outrage, a proneness for which is probably often occtisioned 

 by the wants and irritations of necessity. A blue jay, which I have kept 

 for some time, and with which I anion terms of familiarity, is iu reality a very 

 notable example of mildness of disposition and sociability of manners. An ac. 

 cident in the woods first put me in possession of this bird, while in full pin- 

 mage, and in high health and spirits; I carried him home with me, and put him 

 into a cage already occupied by a golden, winged woodpecker {picus auratus,) 

 where he was saluted with sudi rudeness, and received such a drubbing 

 from the lord of the manor, for entering his premises, that, to save liis life, 

 I was obliged to take him out again. I then put him into another cage, 

 where the only tenant was a female oriclus spurius (bastaro baltimore.) 

 She also put on airs of alarm, as if she considered herself endangered and 

 insulted by the intrusion ; the jay, meanwhile, sat mute and motionless on 

 the bottom of the cage, either dubious of his own situation, or willing to 

 allow time for the fears of his neighbour to subside. Accordingly, in a few 

 minutes, after displaying various threatening gestures (like some of tho.se 

 Indians we read of in their first interviews with the whites), she began to 

 make her approaches, but with great circumspection, and readiness for re- 

 treat Seeing, however, the jay begin to pick up some crumbs of broken 

 chestnuts, in an humble and peaceable way, she also descended, and began to 

 do the same ; but, at the slightest motion of her new guest, wheeled round, 

 and put herself on the defensive. All this ceremonious jealousy vanished 

 before evening ; and they now roost together, feed, .and play together, iu 

 perfect harmony and good humour. When the jay goes to drink, his mtoi. 

 III. f 



