BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 159 



to the farmers, picking the newly planted corn, the peas, and the 

 sweet potatoes, attacking every fruit tree, and even destroying the 

 eggs of pigeons and domestic fowls. The planters are in the habit of 

 occasionally soaking some corn in a solution of arsenic, and scattering 

 the seeds over the ground, in consequence of which many Jays are 

 found dead about the fields and gardens. The Thrush, the Mocking 

 Bird and many others, although inferior in strength, never allow him 

 to approach their nest with impunity ; and the Jay, to be even with 

 them, creeps silently to it in their absence, and devours their eggs 

 and young whenever he finds an opportunity. I have seen one go its 

 round from one nest to another every day, and suck the newly-laid 

 eggs of the different birds in the neighborhood, with as much regular- 

 ity and composure as a physician would call on his patients. Mr. 

 Gentry says : " The Jay possesses one trait which detracts largely 

 from its general good character. It has a propensity to destroy the 

 eggs and young of small birds. The good which it accomplishes in 

 the destruction of insects, outweighs tenfold the mischief which it 

 commits, and should encourage us to desist our persecutions, and ac- 

 cord to it a most generous welcome. The depredations which it com- 

 mits upon the garden or the farm, are too trivial to mention." To 

 give our readers some idea of the good which this species has accom- 

 plished in some portions of the country, we cannot do better than to 

 give substantially Dr. Kirtland's estimate of its character as given by 

 Dr. Brewer in North American Birds. " When he first settled upon 

 his farm, he observed that every wild cherry and apple was well nigh 

 denuded of its leaves, by the larvae of Clisiocampa americana. The 

 evil was so widespread that all efforts to counteract it seemed utter 

 hopelessness. " At this crisis the Jays made their appearance, and 

 established colonies. The tent-caterpillar constituted a ready diet for 

 their young, and was preyed upon so extensively, that in two or three 

 years afterwards, not an individual was to been seen in the vicinage." 

 Gentry. 



In reference to the food of this species, Mr. E. A. Samuels* writes 

 as follows : u Its food is more varied than that of almost any other 

 bird that we have. In winter, the berries of the cedar, barberry or 

 black- thorn, with the few eggs or cocoons of insects that it is able to 

 find, constitute its chief sustenance. In early spring, the opening 

 buds of shrubs, caterpillars, and other insects, afford it a meagre diet. 

 Later in the spring, and through the greater part of summer, the eggs 

 and young of the smaller birds constitute its chief food, varied by a 

 few insects and early berries. Later in the summer, and in early 

 autumn, berries, small fruits, grains, and a few insects, afford it a 

 bountiful provender ; and later in the autumn, when the frosts have 



* Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 365. 



