THE BLUE JAY. XII 



discovered that a Jay which had been raised in the aviary was the depredator. 

 He was taken out, and placed in a cage, with a quantity of corn, flour and 

 several small birds which he had just killed. The birds he soon devoured, 

 but the flour he would not condescend to eat, and refusing every other kind 

 of food soon died. In the north, it is fond of ripe chestnuts, and in visiting 

 the trees is sure to select the choicest. When these fail, it attacks the beech 

 nuts, acorns, pears, apples, and green corn. 



While at Louisville, in Kentucky, in the winter of 1830, I purchased 

 twenty-five of these birds, at the rate of 6^ cents each, which I shipped to 

 New Orleans, and afterwards to Liverpool, with the view of turning them 

 out in the English woods. They were caught in common traps, baited with 

 maize, and were brought to me one after another as soon as secured. In 

 placing them in the large cage which I had ordered for the purpose of send- 

 ing them abroad, I was surprised to see how cowardly each newly caught 

 bird was when introduced to his brethren, who, on being in the cage a day 

 or two, were as gay and frolicsome as if at liberty in the woods. The new 

 comer, on the contrary, would run into a corner, place his head almost in a 

 perpendicular position, and remain silent and sulky, with an appearance of 

 stupidity quite foreign to his nature. He would suffer all the rest to walk 

 over him and trample him down, without ever changing his position. If 

 corn or fruit was presented to him, or even placed close to his bill, he would 

 not so much as look at it. If touched with the handj he would cower, lie 

 down on his side, and remain motionless. The next day, however, things 

 were altered: he was again a Jay, taking up corn, placing it between his feet, 

 hammering it with his bill, splitting the grain, picking out the kernel, and 

 dropping the divided husks. When the cage was filled, it was amusing to 

 listen to their hammering; all mounted on their perch side by side, each 

 pecking at a grain of maize, like so many blacksmiths paid by the piece. 

 They drank a great deal, eat broken paean nuts, grapes, dried fruits of all 

 sorts, and especially fresh beef, of which they were extremely fond, roosted 

 very peaceably close together, and were very pleasing pets. Now and then 

 one would utter a cry of alarm, when instantly all would leap and fly about 

 as if greatly concerned, making as much ado as if their most inveterate 

 enemy had been in the midst of them. They bore the passage to Europe 

 pretty well, and most of them reached Liverpool in good health; but a few 

 days after their arrival, a disease occasioned by insects adhering to every 

 part of their body, made such, progress that some died every day. Many 

 remedies were tried in vain, and only one individual reached London. The 

 insects had so multiplied on it, that I immersed it in an infusion of tobacco, 

 which, however, killed it in a few hours. 



On advancing north, I observed that as soon as the Canada Jay made its 



