THE-C9ro?R 



Volume IX September-October 1*507 Number 



TWO STUDIES IN BI,UE 



BY WILLIAM L. FINLEY 



PHOTOGRAPHS BY HERMAN T. BOHLMAN 



BIvUE is not a common color among our birds. There are many more clad in 

 neutral tints of brown and gray than in bright blue. But a list of birds 

 could not be complete without our two commonest studies in blue, the blue- 

 bird and the blue jay. ' In all our woods from the Atlantic to the Pacific, one 

 may find these two, one gentle and friendly, the other bold, boisterous and 

 untrustful. 



A small flock of jays are such a noisy pack in the autumn. The^^ squawk 

 thru the woods as if they wanted everybody to know just where they were; but in 

 the spring after they have paired and are nesting, they suddenly go speechless as if 

 they couldn't trust themselves to talk out loud. And indeed they can't when any- 

 where about the nest. They talk in whispers and flit as silently as shadows thru 

 the trees. 



In the early spring I heard the jays squawking about the maples on the hill, 

 but I knew they would not nest there; that was only a play ground. A quarter of 

 a mile below this was a thick clump of fir saplings. They would take this thicket 

 for a home. The last week in May I searched thru this and found the nest eight 

 feet from the ground among the close limbs. 



A little earlier these same birds were blustering, bragging and full of noise. 

 When I found the nest, one of the birds was at home. She didn't move till I shook 

 the tree; then she slid off silently and went for her mate. In another minute they 

 were both there, not threatening and swearing as I had expected. It was pitiful to 

 see how meek and confiding they had become. There was not a single harsh 

 word. They had lost even the blue jay tongue and talked like two chippies in 

 love. They had a peculiar little note like the mewing of a pussy-cat. I felt 

 ashamed to touch the home of such a gentle pair. If this was not a two-fold bird 



I This article refers to the Western Bluebird (Sialia mexicana occidentalis) , the California Jay [Aphelocoma 

 californica), and the Steller Jay {Cyanocitta stelleri), as observed in Oregon, 



