The Steller Jays 



launches himself from the high point of one tree and aims for the lower- 

 most limb across the interval, so he opens and closes his wings in the most 

 leisurely manner, giving rise to a series of hitches, or parachute dives. 

 At the climax of each spread, every feather of the wings and tail is clearly 

 defined, and the whole makes a very pleasing picture. The purpose of 

 this halting descent is evidently to afford the bird leisurely glimpses of 

 the open country below, to give him time to focus accurately upon details 

 of possible interest. 



The notes of the Steller Jay are harsh and expletive to a degree. 

 Shaack, shaack, shaack is a common (and most exasperating) form; or, 

 by a little stretch of the imagination one may hear jay, jay, jay. A mellow 

 klook, klook, klook sometimes varies the rasping imprecations and serves 

 to remind one that the jay is cousin to the crow. Other and minor notes 

 there are for the lesser and rarer emotions, and some of these not un- 

 musical. At his task of counting the rungs of some heavenly ladder of 

 fir or pine, he will indulge a sort of musical chatter entirely for his own 

 benefit, singing snatches, as it were, of the latest opera, and then winding 

 up suddenly with a horse-laugh. Very rarely the bird attempts song, 

 and does succeed in producing a medley that quite satisfies her that he could 

 if he would. I have fancied that the Steller Jays of California, frontalis 

 and carb&nacea, have somewhat lighter, clearer voices than those of 

 stelleri typicus in the Northwest. And I am quite sure that carbonacea 

 has a more extended repertory of cries than the other forms — a subject 

 which would repay careful investigation. 



C. stelleri, like C. cristata of the East, is something of a mimic. The 

 notes of the Western Redtail (Buteo borealis calurus) and other hawks 

 are reproduced with especial fidelity. For such an effort the jay conceals 

 himself in the depths of a large-leafed maple or in a fir thicket, and his 

 sole object appears to be that of terrorizing the neighboring song-birds. 

 One such I heard holding forth from a shade tree on the grounds of a 

 lunatic asylum. Uncanny sounds were, of course, not unknown in that 

 section, but an exploratory pebble served to unmaslc the cheat, and 

 drove forth a very much chastened "Blue Jay" before a company of 

 applauding Juncoes. On another occasion when I was investigating the 

 domestic affairs of a pair of "Long-crested" Jays, this self-same cry of 

 the Redtail was hurled at me, not once but repeatedly, evidently with 

 the expectation of exciting terror in the oological breast. 



The diet of these jays is highly varied. They will "try anything 

 once," and so, tiring of bugs and slugs, they are not averse to sampling 

 corn, cabbage leaves, or, best of all, potatoes. While their depredations 

 do not figure much in the larger scheme of things, their attentions to 

 pioneer enterprises and modest "clearings" are a little exasperating. The 



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