o?i the "Urraca "Jay and other South American Birds. 37


so many and such varied calls. The old birds will come up to the

wires and call, chatter, and whisper in the most curious way,

bowing and jerking himself about and evidently doing his

best to talk and be sociable. Both have several loud and ringing

call notes, one almost like the bark of a puppy which they

generally utter when alarmed or surprised : they are said to learn

to talk well which I can quite believe, for they undoubtedly

mimic various sounds, and the young one can whistle like any

parrot. As pets I know of no more interesting or desirable

birds ; they are ver)' pretty, tame and hardy and almost as intelli-

gent as dogs. A piece of biscuit or a nut tossed to them will be

very cleverly caught, sometimes in mid-air, and every new object

is thoroughly investigated, being gripped between the feet, just

in the manner shown in Mr. Gronvold's illustration of the Blue-

bearded Jays, to be hammered by the powerful bill, with which

they will ver} r soon split a lead pencil, for example, into splinters.

They seem to have all the curiosity and love of bright objects of

the Crow tribe, and one particularly noticeable habit is that of

concealing pieces of food, especially nuts or fruit stones, in some

crevice or on the ground, hammering it home and then piling up

quite large stones, lumps of earth and sticks above it. — I have seen

them lift and fly away with so heavy an object as an almost entire

hard-boiled egg, though their flight is by no means powerful. —

They have a quaint way of not appearing satisfied with this

burying operation the first time, undoing all their work and

repeating the whole business in some other corner, and I believe

they never forget where they have hidden something. Another

trick they have is that of pouching their food in the front of the

throat or bottom of the mouth and carrying it about in this way

for quite a long time, until they select a hiding place for it or

finally swallow it. The two seem much attached to one another

and pay each other many little attentions, but I am unable to say

whether the}' are a true pair ; if they are, and giyeu a very roomy

home and suitable treatment (to keep them or similar birds in a

cage of small dimensions is to my mind a cruelty, apart from

which it gives one no opportunity of observing their habits

properly) I feel sure they would breed easily in this country, but

they should not be subjected out-of-doors to the trials of our



