,p^^<.'^ 



XIV.— THE BLUE-JAY. 



" A lovely bird, with azure imigs."— Byron. 



One can hardly go on with the above quotation 

 and credit the subject of the present article with a 

 " song that said a thousand things," for the Blue- 

 jay's vocaHzations are Hmited to a degree. Ordinarily,, 

 as has been neatly remarked, he " encourages- 

 himseH: in patience ' ' by uttering a sound like 

 " tschok " at intervals, and more rarely he points 

 his bill to heaven and his tail to earth and utters a 

 cackling laugh, in feeble imitatioii of the great 

 Australian kingfisher, commonly known as the Laugh- 



