A Pet Blue Jay 



By MRS. H. E. MERRILL, Cranford, N. J. 



A BOUT July 14, some friends sent me a young Blue Jay that had fallen 

 /-% from the nest. They had kept him several days but, owning a cat, 

 were afraid the pets would not live together in amity. The bird was 

 pretty well covered with feathers except around the neck, and we judged 

 him to be about ten days old. He could not feed himself, but the food had 

 to be pushed down the very large mouth which opened so wide every time 

 anybody approached, and he had to be fed about every hour. We first gave 

 him bread and milk, hominy, or berries, then hard-boiled egg, corn, and very 

 little meat. Then I bought chicken food, and mixed it with corn meal and 

 water; but he was just crazy for the yolk of the hard-boiled egg. 



An old clothes-horse was placed near a window in the cellar, and he would 

 hop from one bar to the other, tacking crosswise to mount to the top. In less 

 than two weeks Tramp, as he was called, commenced to fly around the cellar. 



We would take him up in the daytime, and let him play around the open 

 piazza or fly out in the trees, and he would return to our call through the 

 upper windows, or alight on head or shoulders, as he soon learned to recognize 

 the voice of every member of the family. When I am sewing, he sits on work- 

 basket or lap, playing with the thread or thimble just like a kitten, or perches 

 on back of chair, or walks all over the paper, nibbling at the pen, while I write at 

 my desk. He delights in his bath every day and sometimes takes two or three. 

 Now having had him six weeks or more, we put him in a large cage at night 

 on the shed out from our window, and in the morning Tramp wakes early, but 

 just jumps around, and does not call until he hears us moving in the room. 

 Then he chirps, and when I go to take the cage in has the dearest little cooing 

 song, as if thanking me for letting him out. Then he flies on my head and 

 wants to be fed, though there is something always in the cage, which is left 

 open during the day, and he goes in and out as he pleases. 



In the rooms where he is allowed are certain perches (towel-racks) where 

 Tramp has learned to rest. He has a very cunning musical gurgle in his throat, 

 without opening his bill very wide, and it could really be called a pretty song, 

 which has surprised me; but he does not often indulge in that piercing Jay 

 call by which these birds are known to most people. He pays no attention 

 when he hears the family call outside. 



About the second week in August, there was a family of Blue Jays in the 

 garden when Tramp was flying around, and a young one, which seemed about 

 the same age, came quite close on the limb of the tree. They talked together 

 a little, then the wild one flew away and Tramp made no attempt to follow, 

 but for a few weeks after we did not allow him so much liberty. He hammers 

 with his bill just like a Woodpecker, takes buttons, thimbles, or anything he 

 can find, and hides them, pushing them under cushions or rugs. He is very 



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