The California Jays 



some thirteen years ago. Having dutifully done the honors of our imposing 

 State educational plant, civilization's finest fruitage, I took leave of my 

 punctilious host at the Greek Theater, sacred to the memory of our 

 immortal Hearst, and within ten minutes had regained Eden, an Adamless 

 and Eveless spot, hidden in a curve of the hills, choked with greenery, 

 and where only the birds murmured. And, sure enough, there came 

 the guardian angel (?) (I had entered by an unused trail, it seemed) — or 

 was it a blue-coated gendarme noisily brandishing a flaming sword? 

 " Jayick! jayick! " It is he! It is he! The sweet, authentic devil, the 

 California Jay! He, the malaprop, the impertinent, the sly wag, thief, 

 scoundrel, outcast, jackal of the bush, bon homme libre, as innocent as 

 morning, as industrious as noon, as wicked as night. C'est le dernier des 

 oiseaux. 



But there is California for you! Within the academic shades the 

 grave tread of the masters, masters of philosophies and of arts and of men. 

 A shade removed, this master of obliquities, ruling his kingdom of the 

 untrod. 



The California Jay occupies a commanding position in the life of the 

 chaparral and of oak-covered hillsides, throughout California. By 

 "commanding" we do not mean exactly that everything is ordered accord- 

 ing to the Blue Jay's will; but it is certain that little takes place without 

 his knowledge; and, as we shall see, presently, he is undoubtedly the 

 chief biological control factor in the distribution of bird-life throughout 

 the area specified. The abundance of the jays and the thoroughness or 

 uniformity of their distribution within any given area will astonish one 

 who has not given close attention to the matter. Try this test: Kiss 

 the moistened hand in such diligent fashion as to produce what Coues has 

 so well called a screeping sound. This under a little practice sounds like 

 the distress call of a wounded bird, and a distress note is the rally call of 

 all jays. If you are in jay country at all, first one and then another of 

 the blue-coated rascals will come slipping up through the shrubbery, 

 until you may have a dozen of them poking and peering to discover the 

 source of the commotion. To perfect the play rigid immobility is nec- 

 essary on the part of the student. Birds detect motion before they do 

 color or form, and at the first discovery of man's presence there is a 

 vigorous outcry and a gradual edging away on the part of the crestfallen 

 birds. But whatever the fashion of your luck at that particular siren 

 station, you will have found at least that California Jays exist almost 

 everywhere within earshot in suitable country. 



The "screeping" test is also a good school for the study of Jay 

 manners. Furtiveness, curiosity, impudence, drollery, — all these qualities 

 come out. And Oh! the noise of it! The Jay's ordinary alarm note is 



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