248 Bird - Lore 



for a week which is quite a lug. I had forded one of the streams to get some dry wood for 

 the fire, and, upon turning toward the place where our provisions were spread out, I 

 saw a bird making away with our golden bannock. I decided that if it tasted as good to 

 the bird as it did to me, he would return, so I hid in the tall grass and focussed my camera 

 on a tin cup which held the disputed food. I did not have to wait long before he came 

 back. Without following even woodsman etiquette, this feathered messmate tried to 

 stand on the rim of the cup, which upset both of our plans, blurring the picture I tried 

 to make. Such little unexpected or unplanned incidents, however, only add to the 

 excitement. This was the first time that I had ever seen the bird, but I remembered its 

 picture and knew that it was the Canada Jay. On returning to civilization (?) we 

 learned that the lumbermen call it the Moose-bird. In some parts it is called Meat 

 Hawk, Carrion-bird or Whiskey- Jack. Kennicott suggests that its Indian name, Wiss- 

 ka-chon, was probably contorted into Whiskey- John and thence to Whiskey-Jack. 



Many of the strange noises we heard in camp, near sundown, were undoubtedly not 

 bears or wildcats but the Moose-bird. We later made friends at camp. I would place 

 bait on one of the lumber-camp stools and sit eight feet away on another, ready to shoot 

 with the camera. As the picture shows, the bird had no fear of the revolver. The bird 

 ate a little and then would carry off a large piece. He gave a sort of whining tone as he 

 returned from one tree and then another. 



Picking up an acquaintance with city Blue Jays is easier than one would suppose. 

 Last spring one sunflower seed was planted near our grape-arbor. The Blue Jays came 

 regularly to get the sunflower seeds. To take a picture I placed the camera near the grape- 

 arbor and had a thread leading into the house. When the Jays came I pulled the thread. 

 Next year we plan to have a row of sunflowers by the arbor for the Blue Jays. 



My last experience was in a Providence park, while taking the picture of a Blue Jay's 

 nest. An old gate was used for a ladder, and after I had climbed up into the tree, a Jay 

 came and perched overhead. Soon I saw another Jay coming down the path. Both 

 Jays had a sort of military bearing, with their blue uniforms, white collars, and black 

 belts. The patrol of the branches, however, was more alert than his mate below, and 

 I was not called upon to explain my presence in the tree. 



3. BLUE JAY ECONOMICS. (Debit and Credit Account) 



My early impression of Jay morals was that they were not as 'true blue' as the bird's 

 dress. I am not so sure now but what the Jay had a right to some of the corn. Audubon 

 pictures a Jay sucking an egg and writes: "I have seen it go its round from one nest to 

 another every day, and suck the newly laid eggs." Barrows, however, in 'Michigan 

 Bird-life,' says that these robberies are restricted to particular Jays and are not general. 

 Forbush, in 'Useful Birds and Their Protection' says that "Jays eat the eggs of the tent 

 caterpillar moth and the larvae of the gipsy moth and other hairy caterpillars." He 

 concludes that it should not be allowed to increase at the expense of smaller birds. Prof. 

 F. E. L. Beal, in the bulletin entitled, 'The Blue Jay and its Food' (published by U. S. 

 Department of Agriculture), says: "Jays do not eat the seeds of the poison ivy (Rhus 

 radicans) or poison sumac {Rhus vernix)." The Blue Jay helps in forestation by planting 

 seeds of various trees, such as nuts and the like. Thus, on the whole, and aside from the 

 enjoyment we get from his beautiful color, his neighborliness and cheery call, we may 

 say that there is a great deal to be added to his credit account, and that he is a good 

 friend to man. 



4. THE BLUE JAY IN LITERATURE 



What facts do the different poets tell us about the Blue Jay? 



Could you appreciate what they write if you had not heard and seen the Jay? 



