BLUE JAY 



13 



the whole tribe of Jays are so remarkable, that, with some other 

 peculiarities, they might have very well justified the great Swedish 

 naturalist in forming them into a separate genus by themselves. 



The Blue Jay builds a large nest, frequently in the cedar, 

 sometimes on an apple-tree, lines it with dry fibrous roots, and lays 

 five eggs of a dull olive, spotted with brown. The male is parti- 

 cularly careful of not being heard near the place, making his visits 

 as silently and secretly as possible. His favorite food is chesnuts^ 

 acorns, and Indian corn. He occasionally feeds on bugs and ca- 

 terpillars, and sometimes pays a plundering visit to the orchard, 

 cherry -rows and potatoe patch ; and has been known in times of 

 scarcity, to venture into the barn, through openings between the 

 weatherboards. In these cases he is extremely active and silent, 

 and if surprised in the fact makes his escape with precipitation, 

 but without noise, as if conscious of his criminality. 



Of all birds he is the most bitter enemy to the Owl. No sooner 

 has he discovered the retreat of one of these, than he summons the 

 whole feathered fraternity to his assistance, who surround the glim- 

 mering solitaire, and attack him from all sides, raising such a shout 

 as may be heard, in a still day, more than half a mile off. When 

 in my hunting excursions I have passed near this scene of tumult, 

 I have imagined to myself that I heard the insulting party venting 

 their respective charges with all the virulency of a Billingsgate 

 mob ; the owl, meanwhile, returning every compliment with a 

 broad goggling stare. The war becomes louder and louder, and 

 the owl at length forced to betake himself to flight, is followed by 

 the whole train of his persecutors, until driven beyond the boun- 

 daries of their jurisdiction. 



But the Blue Jay himself is not guiltless of similar depreda- 

 tions with the owl, and becomes, in his turn, the very tyrant he 

 detested, when he sneaks through the woods, as he frequently does, 

 and among the thickets and hedge-rows, plundering every nest he 

 can find of its eggs, tearing up the callow young by piecemeal, and 



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