36 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 5. 



ORNITHOLO&IST aM OOLOfilST. 



X MONTHLY MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO THE STUDY 

 OF BIRDS, THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



JOS. M. WADE, 

 S. L. WILLARD, 



With the (!0-operatiou of able Ornithological 

 Writers and Collectors. 



Editor 

 - Ass't Editor 



Subscription. — $1.00 per annum Foreign 

 subscription Si 25 including postage. Specimen 

 copies 10 cents each. 



JOS. M. WADE, 



Norwich, Conn. 



Entered at the Norwich P. O. as second-class matter. 



EDITORIAL. 



A Tame, "Wild Blue Jay. 

 {Cyanura cristata.) 

 A commercial traveler who regularly vis- 

 its most of the woolen mills thronghou 

 New England, makes the following state- 

 ment : While in the office of W. D. Davis, 

 at the Uxbridge (Mass.) Woolen Mills, the 

 conversation turned on birds, when he was 

 informed that in the evergreen tree at the 

 office door, was the nest of a Blue Jay, 

 {Cyanura cristata.) and that the boys in 

 the office could at any time lift her from 

 the nest, and she would not even struggle 

 to gain her liberty. Not believing the 

 statement, a bet of the cigars was made, 

 when they stepped to the door and the 

 bird was lifted from the nest and placed 

 in the left hand of our friend who smoothed 

 down its feathers with his right hand sev- 

 eral times. When he stopped, the bird 

 looked at him and flew directly to the nest. 

 When it was again removed from the nest, 

 and the gentleman smoothed down its 

 feathers as he assured our friends he was 

 often in the habit of doing, especially when 

 visitors came and they wanted to show off 

 their pet. The birds had bred in the mill- 

 yard for several years,and Mr. Davis would 

 not allow them to be molested. There is 

 something remarkable about the nesting 

 habits of the Blue Jay not well understood 

 by our ornithologists. Out of the breed- 

 ing season they are decidedly the wildest 

 bird in New England, it being difficult to 



get within gunshot, but when ready to 

 nest, it is not an uncommon thing for them 

 to build close to some habitation. During 

 the fore part of 1878 we collected so faith- 

 fully that a severe attack of typhoid pneu- 

 monia was the result. We had poor luck 

 with Blue Jays that season, only finding 

 one nest and that in plain sight by the 

 roadside, but as soon as we were confined 

 to bed, a neighbor came in and informed 

 us of a Blue Jay's nest in a small evergreen 

 tree,alniost in a public thoroughfare, wh(.'re 

 people were passing and repassing contin- 

 ually ; being helpless, the bird hatched its 

 young in peace. The following season, 

 visiting North Manchester occasionally, we 

 saw at one time on the Hudson place, right 

 in the Door-yard as it were, three Blue 

 Jays' nests, one of them being near the 

 greenhouse door, where one or more men 

 were at work. We several times stood 

 within a few feet of it and looked directly 

 into the nest, when the old bird would re- 

 main perfectly indifferent to our pi'esence. 

 Once we reached down to find the contents 

 of the nest, when she quietly lol't it, but not 

 until we touched the side of tJie nest. 



Correspondence. 

 In our ])rivate corres])ondence we re- 

 ceive a large number of extremely vahia- 

 l)le gossipy letters, fall of valuable matter 

 interesting to our readers and which the 

 temptation is strong to publish, but being 

 private letters the contents are lost to our 

 readers. We 'now propose to commence 

 a department with the above heading and 

 shall l)e glad to receive letters from col- 

 lectors, written especially for publication, 

 such letters should contain the experience 

 and observations of the writers, briefly 

 stated, collections made or question asked, 

 and answer.s to the questions of others. If 

 such letters are written on separate sheets 

 of paper from what is intended for the 

 editor personally, m;ich time will be 

 saved. Letters from the little known and 

 thinly settled portions of our Territories 

 will be extremely desirui)le and will be 1 ead 

 with interest. 



