82 



Bird -Lore 



The Jay, like the poor of the scriptural 

 passage, was always with us, summer and 

 winter. In the latter season he frequented 

 largely the corn-cribs of the farmers, and 

 would even come familiarly into the wood- 

 shed of the house where we lived in the 

 edge of the village. As a boy I liked the 

 sociable fellow in winter; but when the 

 spring and summer came the Jay was hated 

 by all the other birds, and I could not help 

 sharing in their feeling. In the "oak open- 

 ings," as we called them, along the edge of 

 the prairies, he was the one sly and ferocious 

 robber of eggs and young birds. The Mi- 

 grant Shrike made his feather- lined nest in 

 the locusts or amid the thorny depths of the 

 osage orange hedges, and he took also is 

 occasional toll of a Sparrow in summer and 

 Nuthatch in winter But I have never seen 

 the birds gather in screeching flocks against 

 the Shrike as I have seen and heard them 

 with the Jay. My remembrance of the Jay's 

 depredations upon the young of birds recalls 

 more especially his greed for the young of 

 the Baltimore Oriole. With the exception 

 of the regions along the river-bottoms there 

 were few elms and maples, and the Orioles 

 built their nests most often in the top 

 branches and twigs of the bur-oak. These 

 were sufficiently stiff to permit of so large a 

 bird as the Jay perching upon them and 

 making of the young Orioles an easy prey. 



But the robber was not particular in his 

 choice. All the birds hated him, and he 

 preyed upon the eggs and young of all. 



May I also add this, however, as a pos- 

 sible explanation of the varying observation 

 and verdict of different bird -students as to 

 the habits of the Jay. His feeding habits 

 may be different in different localities, and 

 even at different times. I state this from my 

 observations of another species of birds. 

 That other species is the Bronzed Grackle. 

 The western sloughs and river-bottoms 

 fairly swarmed with this Grackle, and yet, 

 in all the twenty years of my residence in 

 Wisconsin, I never saw a Grackle molest a 

 nest, or eat either egg or young. 



In the East I have lived now for some- 

 thing over thirty years, always and in many 

 different localities, taking deep interest in the 

 birds. But until I came to my present place 



of residence I never saw a Grackle rob a 

 bird's nest. But eleven years ago, on com- 

 ing to Litchfield, the marauding habits of 

 the Purple Grackle were forced upon my 

 notice to such an extent that if it had been 

 my only experience with the birds I should 

 have said that their chief diet during the 

 nesting season is made up of the eggs and 

 young of other birds. These depredations 

 went on through a period of three or four 

 years. The Robins were the special victims. 

 Hardly a nest in the apple trees about our 

 door, and, in so far as we could see, in the 

 orchard of our neighbor, escaped. The con- 

 stant bickerings of the Robins and the harsh 

 cry of their enemies under attack, quite 

 spoiled our spring-time pleasure. I have 

 seen, at such times, the Grackle making off 

 with fledglings of the Robin which were 

 quite a load for him to carry. 



Now here is the strange part of the story : — 

 For four years I have not seen a single depre- 

 dation of a Grackle upon the nest of Robin 

 or other bird. It is true that the Grackles, 

 during this period, have not been nesting 

 near us in such numbers as they did. But 

 they have been present in the region, and I 

 can only attribute the peacefulness of these 

 later times to a change of habit on the part 

 of the black freebooters. In tropical coun- 

 tries, where the tiger abounds, it is not true 

 that all tigers are man-eating ones; but let 

 the tiger once get a taste of human blood 

 and then he becomes the terror of the villages, 

 lurking in wait and snatching his victims 

 wherever he can come upon them. May not 

 the same be true of the bird- eating Jays and 

 Grackles? — John Hutchins, Litchfield, 

 Conn. 



The Blue Jay as a Destroyer 



In Dundee, Illinois, while walking down 

 one of its shady streets, I heard a great com- 

 motion among the English Sparrows. 

 Glancing up on to the outstretching bough 

 of a box elder, I saw a Blue Jay ferociously 

 tearing to pieces and devouring a young, 

 callow Sparrow just picked out of its nest. 

 It had no feathers on. The nest was con- 

 spicuous a short distance off. A friend of 

 mine testifies that she saw at Stevens Point, 



