138 
BLUE JAY. 
thought it), by a display of all tlie oratorial powers lie was pos- 
sessed of. 
Mr. Bartram relates an instance of the Jay's sagacity, worthy of 
remark. " Having caught a Jay in the winter season," says he, " I 
turned him loose in the green-house, and fed him with corn (zea, maize), 
the heart of which they are very fond of. This grain being ripe and 
hard, the bird at first found a difficulty in breaking it, as it Avould start 
from his bill when he struck it. After looking about, and as if con- 
sidering for a moment, he picked up his grain, carried and placed it 
close up in a corner on the shelf, between the wall and a plant-box, 
where being confined on three sides he soon effected his purpose, and 
continued afterwards to make use of this same practical expedient. 
The Jay," continues this judicious observer, "is one of the most useful 
agents in the economy of nature, for disseminating forest trees, and 
other ruciferous and hard-seeded vegetables on which they feed. Tlieir 
chief employment during the autumnal season is foraging to supply 
their winter stores. In performing this necessary duty, they drop 
abundance of seed in their flight over fields, hedges, and by-fences, 
where they alight to deposit them in the post holes, &c. It is remark- 
able what numbers of young trees rise up in fields and pastures after a 
wet winter and spring. These birds alone are capable, in a few years' 
time, to replant all the cleared lands."* 
The Blue Jays seldom associate in any considerable numbers, except 
in the months of September and October, when they hover about in 
scattered parties of from forty to fifty, visiting the oaks, in search of 
their favorite acorns. At this season they are less shy than usual ; and 
keep chattering to each other in a variety of strange and querulous 
notes. I have counted fifty-three, but never more, at one time ; and 
these generally following each other in straggling irregularity from one 
range of woods to another. Yet we are told by the learned Dr. Latham, 
and his statement has been copied into many respectable European pub- 
lications, that the Blue Jays of North America " often unite into flocks 
of twenty thousand at least ! which alighting on a field of ten or twelve 
acres, soon lay waste the whole."| If this were really so, these birds 
would justly deserve the character he gives them, of being the most 
destructive species in America. But I will venture the assertion, that 
the tribe Oriolus jJ^oxniceiis, or red-winged Blackbirds, in the environs 
of the river Delaware alone, devour and destroy more Indian corn than 
the whole Blue Jays of North America. As to their assembling in 
such immense multitudes, it may be sufficient to observe, that a flock of 
* Letter of Mr. W illiam Bartram to the Author. 
t Synopsis of Birds, vol. i., p. 387. See also Encyclopedia Britannica, art. 
Corvus. 
