HABITS OF THE BLUE JAY. 
283 
“ See him of a fine spring morning in love-making time ! See him rise up and down upon 
the mossy limb, his gay crest bent in quick and frequent salutation, while a rich, round, 
thrilling love-note rolls liquidly from off his honeyed tongue. Then see him spring in air 
with his wide wings, azure and white, and dark-barred, graceful tail, spread to the admiring 
gaze of her he woos, float round and round her fairer form, then to return again in rapturous 
fervor to her side, to overwhelm his glowing charms with yet more subduing graces. 
“But the fun of if all is, to see our euphuist practising these seductive arts by himself. 
You will often catch him alone, thus making love to his own beauty with an ardor fully equal 
to that of the scene we have just described ; indeed, I am not sure that it does not surpass it ; 
for, like other dandies, he is most in love with his own beauty. It is the richest and most 
fantastic scene I know of among the comicalities of the natural world, to catch him in one of 
these practising humors ; he does court to his own charms with such a gay and earnest 
enthusiasm ; he apes all the gestures and love-lorn notes of his seemingly volcanic amours, and 
turning his head back, gazes on his own fine coat with such fantastic earnest, that one can 
hardly resist roaring with laughter. 
“ So jealous is he of his sole prerogative of supervision over the interest and welfare of his 
neighbors, that he is forever on the look-out for all interloping stragglers. Every racoon 
that shows his inquisitive nose is assailed with vehement clamors and angry snappings of 
beaks, which compel him, in terror for his eyes, to return to his home. Our friend Jay is said 
to attribute the nocturnal habits of racoons, wild cats, opossums, owls, etc., to their appre- 
hension of his valorous vigilance by daylight. Be the facts of the case what they may, no one 
of these gentry, nor mole, nor mink, nor weasel, can make its appearance without being beset 
by the obstreperous screams of this audacious knave. Nor does he confine his operations to 
the defence of his foraging-ground from these depredators, from whom he has little to fear of 
personal danger, on account of his superior activity. But he even sometimes does assail the 
lightning-winged and lordly hawk ; these scenes are very characteristic and very amusing, and 
I have frequently witnessed them.” 
The Blue Jay is a familiar bird in every part of the American Continent. The entire 
family to which this bird belongs, and of which it is a very conspicuous member, is nearly 
cosmopolitan as to distribution, and is distinguished by the remarkable intelligence of all its 
members. Its habits are striking, peculiar, and full of interest, often evincing sagacity, fore- 
thought, and intelligence strongly akin to reason. “Those traits are common to the whole 
family.” — N. A. Birds. Wary as this bird is in the settled parts of the country, in the 
western prairies, it is half domestic. In one of the principal streets of Richmond, Indiana, a 
nest was built in a lilac-bush near a window of a dwelling. In Kansas the Jay is equally 
familiar, and is more highly colored than in the east. 
Wilson says of him : “He appears to be among his fellow-musicians what a trumpeter is 
in a band ; some of his notes having no distant resemblance to the tones of that instrument. 
These he has the faculty of changing, through a great variety of modulations, according to 
the peculiar humor he happens to be in. When disposed for ridicule, there is scarce a bird 
whose peculiarities of song he cannot tune his notes to. When engaged in the blandishments 
of love, they resemble the soft chatterings of a duck ; and while he nestles among the thick 
branches of a cedar are scarce heard at a few paces distant. But he no sooner discovers your 
approach than he sets up a sudden and vehement outcry, flying off and screaming with all 
his might, as if he would call the whole feathered tribe to witness some outrageous usage he 
had received. When he hops among the oaks and hickory they become soft and musical. 
All these he accompanies with various nods and jerks and other gesticulations, for which the 
Jays are so remarkable. 
The power of mimicry possessed by the J ay, though different from, is hardly surpassed 
by that of the mocking-bird. It imitates the cry of a hawk so closely as to drive the small 
birds to cover, and excite immediate consternation in the poultry-yard. An experienced 
bird-fancier has found them more ingenious, cunning, and teachable than any other species 
of bird he has ever attempted to instruct. The Blue Jay appears to belong exclusively to 
America. 
