DROLLERIES OF THE WOODS. 
189 
to an extraordinary extreme. It bores innumerable little 
holes in the bark and trunks of trees, in each of which it 
wedges firmly an acorn with its bill. They may be heard 
hammering away at this work the live-long day. The whole 
family of squirrels — all the burrowing animals together, with 
many other birds besides those enumerated, have this same 
propensity for hiding their food in the ground or elsewhere. 
It is thus preserved from decay, and whether used by the 
creature depositing them or not, they grow into trees and re- 
new the earth with vegetation. 
Thus do these little creatures, in the economy of nature, 
become the planters of our forests. 
So universal is the Blue Jay's reputation for mischievous 
and impish tricks of every kind, that the negroes of the 
South regard them with a strange mixture of superstition 
and deadly hate. The belief among them is, that it is the 
special agent of the devil here on earth — carries tales to him 
and all kinds of slanderous gossip, particularly about negroes, 
and most especially that they supply him with fuel to burn 
them with. Their animosity is entirely genuine and implac- 
able. 
When a boy, I caught many of them in traps, during the 
snows, and the negro boys who generally accompanied me 
on my rounds to the traps, always begged eagerly for the Jay 
Birds we captured to be surrendered to them, and the next 
instant their necks were wrung amid the shouts of laughter. 
Alas, for the fate of our feathered Euphuist ! — yet he was 
" a fellow of infinite wit !" 
