313
Concord Mass.
1898
Dec. 8-10
(No 3)
a neighboring orchard (about 30 yds [yards] from the house)
where they buried most of them in the ground
depositing a small part, however, behind scales of Ash 
bark or in several holes or crevices of the old apple &
pear trees. The fragments hidden in the ground were
scattered about over places where the wind had
drifted among the snow. Some were newly thrust 
carelessly under fallen leaves or tufts of grass, others were
driven into the ground by repeated  powerful strokes
of the birds' bills; the pieces placed in trees were
almost invariably tamped firmly down before they
were left.
  The Jays were very tame and our presence at the 
windows did not seem to disturb them in the
least. It was a beautiful sight to see them hopping
about on the snow bank picking up the crumbs
within two or three yards of us. They seemed to be
quite free from jealousy or selfishness and I did
not once see one of them interfere with or threaten
another although all four were often collecting their
loads at the same time on a space less than a
yard square. Nor did they molest the
sparrows but the latter, I observed, did not venture 
to feed with them although they often alighted within
a few inches of them in the trees & bushes near at
hand.
  On both mornings the Jays screamed for some time
at daybreak in the pines west of the house but
while collecting the crumbs they preserved, at all
times, a perfect silence.