THE BLUE JAY 
By ERNEST INGERSOLL 
The National Association of Audubon Societies 
Educational Leaflet No. 22 
Some gloomy November day you are tempted to stroll down the lane. 
The last red leaf has fallen from the maples, the long briers, goldenrod, 
and grass in the fence-corners, are tangled and matted ungracefully, and 
the skies are “sombre and drear.” A few crows, flapping wearily along 
the edge of the next field, and a silent sparrow loitering disconsolately 
about a thicket of young oaks, whose tenacious brown leaves rustle 
harshly, are the only signs of animal life, when suddenly from — well, 
one cannot be sure from where — come the notes of a 
most melodious whistling, rising and falling with the Pleasing 
harmonious cadence of a sweet-toned bell rung a long 
way off, and full of the sadness and regret which the decay of summer 
impresses on this season of late autumn. 
Stopping and tracing the sound I soon espy the singer; and what do 
you suppose he is? A Blue Jay! That arrant, meddlesome, loud-voiced 
braggart, whom you think of only in terms of mischief ! Is it true that 
he, too-, can show a soft heart, and, away by himself in the somber 
autumnal fields, can attune his voice to sentimental lays? 
Now he catches sight of me, and dashes away with that defiant scream 
which is all his own, as if ashamed of having been detected in anything 
like a gentle mood. 
But really he is not so bold and bad as he wishes to appear. I know 
that he bullies weaker birds, plagues the owls and crows, fights the squir- 
rels for their hard-earned nuts, or chivies them round and round the 
tree-trunks just for fun — even assails the great American eagle himself, 
if he feels like it ; but he seems to do it all out of high spirits rather than 
viciousness, and I like him. 
Few birds have so handsome an appearance, so debonair a manner; 
and he takes so good care of his own that he must command the admira- 
tion bravery and force will always elicit. When in the cool November 
days I hear his challenging shout ringing through the 
silent and leafless woods, I am cheered by the thought 
that one creature, at least, cares naught for the fall of 
the year, nor fears the onslaught of winter. The Blue Jay has a heart 
for any fate, and in this, at least, teaches me a good lesson. 
This jay is one of the most widely distributed and familiar of North 
American birds, and originally was spread numerously over all the eastern 
United States and Canada, as far west as the Rocky Mountains. Every- 
where, except, perhaps, in the extreme north, it is resident with more or 
less regularity throughout the year. 
A Brave 
Style 
