BLUE JAYS. 253 



never seen, but upon this occasion, a large num- 

 ber of blue jays, a dozen or more, fly in a com- 

 pact flock. Here, on the home hillside, and I 

 know nothing of them elsewhere, they wander 

 about during the autumn in companies, but al- 

 ways in an independent manner, as if a very 

 general knowledge of the company's whereabouts 

 was quite sufficient ; but to-day such a method 

 would have been impracticable. The air was 

 too thick with snow, and therefore, predetermin- 

 ing the direction, they gathered upon the same 

 tree, and then, when closer together than ever I 

 saw red-winged blackbirds, off they flew. To say 

 that this simple occurrence does not prove be- 

 yond question a wide range of mental faculties 

 is to deny that two and two make four. Prob- 

 ably the unhappy growler who descants upon 

 the all-essential importance of " the element of 

 accuracy," which no one denies, will find this 

 incident -contrary to the officially recorded con- 

 ditions of jay life, and insist that I saw red- 

 winged blackbirds and mistook them. 



An ornithologist once wrote to me, " Some 

 of your birds in New Jersey have strange ways," 

 but this is not true in the sense he intended. 

 Birds about home are simply, here as elsewhere, 

 wide-awake, cunning, quick to scent danger, and 

 wise enough to suit themselves to their surround- 

 ings. This latter fact goes far to explain many 



