BIRD PARADISE 263 



I saw yesterday a party of hunters wending 

 their way to the swamp south of the village. A 

 little later I heard the sharp report of their guns. 

 No protest came from the partridges so far as I 

 know, but the blue jays lifted up their voices and 

 I fancied commanded quiet. If they did do any- 

 thing of the kind they certainly failed in their 

 effort, for I heard the shooting for an hour or 

 more. What a stirring, forceful fellow the blue 

 jay is ! When I hear him from the thickets of 

 the swamp he seems to be almost all scream. His 

 call is a scream, and there is no vestige of any- 

 thing but harshness in it. Living as a pirate 

 back through the ages, so he has a voice match- 

 ing his character, hard, sharp, and most forbid- 

 ding. There is scarcely anything the jay says or 

 does that I really enjoy. He wears his blue coat 

 gracefully, but that is merely the husk of a kind 

 of "full corn in the ear" which bird lovers care 

 very little about harvesting. 



A fine specimen of the hairy woodpecker made 

 me a visit this week. I first saw him in the 

 orchard, and one might readily infer from his ac- 

 tions that he had been engaged to clear the entire 



