388 Bird - Lore 



A RARE PET 



Parrots, Paraquets, Canaries, and several other kinds of birds are common 

 enough pets, but one does not often hear of a pet Blue Jay. Well, I have had a 

 Blue Jay for a pet, a screeching, saucy Blue Jay, with a cap and body of pretty 

 blue, black, and white feathers. This is a true story of a bird whose wild nature 

 not many have been privileged to enjoy. 



It was in the forenoon of a warm, sunny, summer day in the month of 

 August. Everything was quiet; the sun was getting hot, and the air drowsy, 

 when suddenly we heard most heart-rending screeches. I went out to see 

 what was the matter, and found a gathering of excited children in the 

 road, while hovering over the piazza were a couple of Blue Jays, screaming 

 frightfully. 



"What is it?" I asked. 



"The cat has caught a baby bird," the children told me, "and he's gone 

 under the piazza with it!" 



That was what had happened; a cat had somehow or other caught a bird. 

 We tried to make the cat come out but he would not. I think he was rather 

 wise because, if he had come out then, the father and mother birds would have 

 picked him to pieces. For a while the Blue Jays hovered around, screaming 

 loudly and angrily, but they finally flew away. However, we could still hear 

 them in the woods nearby. 



Then the cat, foxy coward that he was, crept slowly out. My mother pulled 

 a board from the piazza, and, reaching down, picked up the little baby Blue 

 Jay. Strange to say, the cat had hardly hurt him. Aside from a few teeth- 

 marks, little birdie was very much alive. I think the cat meant to eat him, but 

 was so frightened by the older birds that he lost his appetite. What cat 

 wouldn't? 



The little bird could not have been more than two weeks old. My mother 

 took him into the house, and, wrapping him in flannel, put him into a box. 

 Later she mixed Indian meal and milk, which, little by little, she crammed gently 

 down birdie's throat. It was very hard to make him swallow the mash, so we 

 would put only a little bit into his mouth with a drop of water to wash it 

 down. In a few days he began to like it. Whenever he was hungry he would 

 open his little beak and cry for food. It was amusing to see him. It was the 

 same as if the mother bird were feeding him. 



Every day for a week the mother and father birds would come near the 

 house and screech. It was pitiful to hear them, but we could do nothing. We 

 didn't know where the nest was, and, as the little bird was unable to fly, we 

 could do nothing but keep him. 



Day by day the Blue Jay grew stronger and brighter. He was more wilHng 

 to eat; in fact, he loved the mixture of meal and milk. We bought a large cage 

 for him. His feathers grew thick rapidly, and, in a few weeks, he was a full- 



