Our Blue Jay Neighbors 



BY MRS, HARRIET CARPENTER THAYER, Minneapolis, Minn. 



Illustrated by photographs from nature by Thos. S. Roberts 



IT is perhaps a rare privilege, in the midst of a large cit\', to be chosen as 

 neighbors by a family of Blue Jays, yet such was our good fortune. 

 They came one May morning into the top of a young elm tree close 

 by our bedroom window. One had a twig in his mouth which he was en- 

 deavoring to get into position in the site selected for the nest. He pulled 



BLUE JAY ON NEST 



and tugged, now bending his body, now twitching his head, until at last he 

 succeeded; and the news spread abroad that a pair of Blue Ja3's were building 

 a nest in our tree. For two days they worked, completing the outside; 

 then they came at longer intervals for two days more, bringing choice bits 

 of finishing for the inside. Both birds took part in the labor of house- 

 building. 



During these days three small heads were often peering at them from the 

 window near by and shrill little voices often interrupted their work. But at 

 last, though we trembled lest we had frightened them away by our frantic 

 efforts to keep quiet, the mother settled down on her nest and only whispers 

 were heard at the window. 



(50) 



