278 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



THE BLUE JAY. 



About a week before Christmas I observed a Blue Jay in a neighbor- 

 ing yard and thought how nice it would be if we could secure him and 

 his mate for a daily visitor through the dreary winter, so arming my- 

 self with a plentiful supply of crumbs, I crossed the road and under the 

 tree where I first saw him I scattered a few crumbs and as I retraced 

 my steps, dropped a few more and when I reached the window boxes of 

 my own home I covered two of these with the remaining crumbs as 

 tempting a feast as any bird could wish. 



I did not see any more of him that day but the next morning he came 



to my window. Very shy indeed, at first, just alighting for a morsel 



and then away to a neighboring tree to devour it more leisurely. The 



next day another came and soon another and another till in less than 



a fortnight I had ten of those feathed beauties that took breakfast at 



my window every morning. Then began in earnest my study of the 



Blue Jay. I had always been his friend and could not believe many of 



the scandalous stories told of him. First I studies his tastes and found 



him quite an epicure in his way. He cared but little for corn and oats 



and mush of any kind he would not touch but pieces of toasted bread 



and bits of fat were his espearal dainties. One day I put on the boxes 



some scraps from leaf lard and suet with bits of toast. Two of the 



birds that morning took pieces of the bread, thrust them into the fat 



until thoroughly covered and then flew away: In that way this pair 



took their breakpast. My ten Blue Jays were blessed with good 



appetites and if given what they liked best would carry away a large 



amount in a short time. They are very fond of trimmings of steak and 



other pieces of suet but lean meat was not to their fancies. They came 



for their daily meal about eight in the morning and though they took 



occasional lunches during the day, they never called for food except in 



the morning: If their call of "Jay Jay" did not bring their food 



promptly, some of the bolder ones would pick on the window panes 



with their bills, and stormy mornings they came some earlier and went 



away hastily. One pleasant day I noticed my flock in some trees near 



the house. It seemed to be a social gathering where each bird did 



something for amusement. Some were pruning their feathers, others 



were hopping from branch to branch uttering their weird call and 



others were busy picking something from the trees. I determined to 



find out what it was and on examining the trees on which they were 



at work, I found eggs of the tent moth encircling the tender branches. 



One great point scored by my Blue Jay friend. The birds were not 



nearly as pugnacious towards the English Sparrows or toward each 



