asked, that he meets the same fate as the 

 man who doesn't withdraw his foot from 

 his neighbor's house. With his unset- 

 tled ways, there is something vagrant 

 about him. After all, it is surprising 

 how much humor of a certain sort would 

 pass out of our lives if the Blue Jay were 

 to vanish. How much of a sort of mirth 

 that is a bit rough, yet free f ram malice ! 

 And there would go, too, expressions our 

 language would be richer and better with- 

 out, the cheap slang which refers to some- 

 one as a "jay," or a hamlet of a certain 

 sort as a "jay-town." 



Even the schoolboy who has not yet 

 arrived at definite impressions about most 

 of the life around him, has a distinct 

 notion about the character of the Jay, 

 and few creatures enter into the nonsense 

 doggerel that he knows as does the 



"Jay-bird, jay-bird, settin' on a limb, 

 Winked at me and I winked at him. 

 I picked up a stone and split his shin. 

 Now, confound you, wink agin." 



and, as a matter of fact, when the school- 

 boy does throw a stone at a Jay, it is not 

 out of malice, nor even a wish to possess 

 the bird, but much in the spirit that he 

 would throw a snowball at a companion. 

 Fully as the Jay has entered into non- 

 sense-verse, he is not a bird on the whole 

 to inspire poets ; he (or his cousin, 

 rather) fits well enough into the maudlin 

 mutterings of Caliban. Perhaps the only 

 place where he has entered into a strain 

 of higher mood is where his call "through 

 all the gloomy day" is made an accom- 

 paniment of the saddest portion of the 

 year. 



There are a large number of people, 

 too, whose attitude toward the Jay is that 

 of decided hatred. To them he is not 

 simply an awkward fellow, a fraud, a sort 

 of useless vagabond, and so on, but a vil- 

 lain of the deepest dye. Jays have been 

 known to actually rob bird nests, and 

 devour young birds, and the whole tribe 

 has on that account been pronounced 

 guilty. More exhaustive studies of the 

 bird's habits, however, have tended to 



show that not all Jays can be pronounced 

 guilty, that there is wide enough a range 

 of variation in habit among so versatile 

 a family to make it best to decide on 

 individual cases. Perhaps not to wait 

 until several crimes were committed, or 

 even one, but in no case to execute judg- 

 ment until there is strong suspicion. 



As the case now stands, in most places 

 the Jays are not too abundant, and the 

 complete absence of their calls would 

 make the autumn days something short 

 of being perfectly complete. So long as 

 he does not bother us in flocks, nor is not 

 actually found guilty as an individual, 

 let us be forbearing and make a few 

 allowances for him. If he could use 

 to our understanding that many-voiced 

 tongue of his, who knows how many 

 allowances he could tell of, that he has 

 been making for us? 



Throughout North America, east of 

 the Great Plains, and from the Fur Coun- 

 tries on the north, southward to Florida 

 and eastern Texas, we find this beautiful 

 bird which will announce your presence 

 in his domain by loud and piercing cries 

 of Jay, Jay, "with an arrogance of virtue 

 which makes you question your own 

 motives." At the approach of the nest- 

 ing season, the Jays drop their love of 

 noise, and their silence is remarkable. 

 They seem to have learned that their 

 voices are known to every man and boy 

 and if used would soon reveal the loca- 

 tion of their homes. This home of com- 

 pactly interwoven sticks and rootlets is 

 placed in a crotch or branch of a tree 

 not far out from the trunk and from ten 

 to forty feet from the ground. The tree 

 selected may be one of an orchard, or an 

 evergreen in the door-yard,, but more 

 often it is in the more quiet depths of a 

 forest. The Jay is indeed a wise bird, 

 when home duties require his attention. 

 "Not a sound is made while the sticks 

 are laid and the rootlets gathered. No 

 whistle or call betrays the secret of the 

 spotted eggs." 



H. Walton Clark. 



197 



