138 BLUE JAY. 



thought, it), by a display of all the oratorial powers he was pos- 

 sessed of. 



Mr. Bartram relates an instance of the Jay's sagacity, worthy of 

 remark. " Having caught a Jay in the winter season," says he, "I 

 turned him loose in the green-house, and fed him with corn (zea, maize), 

 the heart of which they are very fond of. This grain being ripe and 

 hard, the bird at first found a diificulty in breaking it, as it would start 

 from his bill when he struck it. After looking about, and as if con- 

 sidering for a moment, he picked up his grain, carried and placed it 

 close up in a corner on the shelf, between the wall and a plant-box, 

 where being confined on three sides he soon eflPected his purpose, and 

 continued afterwards to make use of this same practical expedient. 

 The Jay," continues this judicious observer, "is one of the most useful 

 agents in the economy of nature, for disseminating forest trees, and 

 other ruciferous and hard-seeded vegetables on which they feed. Their 

 chief employment during* the autumnal season is foraging to supply 

 their winter stores. In performing this necessary duty, they drop 

 abundance of seed in their flight over fields, hedges, and by-fences, 

 where they alight to deposit them in the post holes, &c. It is remark- 

 able what numbers of young trees rise up in fields and pastures after a 

 wet winter and spring. These birds alone are capable, in a few years' 

 time, to replant- all the cleared lands."* 



The Blue Jays seldom associate in any considerable numbers, except 

 in the months of September and October, when they hover about in 

 scattered parties of from forty to fifty, visiting the oaks, in search of 

 their favorite acorns. At this season they are less shy than usual ; and 

 keep chattering to each other in a variety of strange and querulous 

 notes. I have counted fifty-three, but never more, at one time ; and 

 these generally following each other in straggling irregularity from one 

 range of woods to another. Yet we are told by the learned Dr. Latham, 

 and his statement has been copied into many respectable European pub- 

 lications, that the Blue Jays of North America " often unite into flocks 

 of twenty thousand at least ! which alighting on a field of ten or twelve 

 acres, soon lay waste the whole."t If this were really so, these birds 

 would justly deserve the character he gives them, of being the most 

 destructive species in America. But I will venture the assertion, that 

 the tribe Oriolus phoeniceus, or red-winged Blackbirds, in the environs 

 of the river Delaware alone, devour and destroy more Indian corn than 

 the whole Blue Jays of North America. As to their assembling in 

 such immense multitudes, it may be sufficient to observe, that a flock of 



* Letter of Mr. W illiam Bartram to the Author. 



t Synopsis of Birds, vol. i., p. 387. See also Bnoyolopedia Britannica, art. 

 Corvus. 



