44 
MEMOIR OP 
of the woods, frequenting the thickest settlements 
as well as the deepest recesses of the forest, where 
his squalling voice often alarms the deer, to the 
disappointment and mortification of the hunter ; 
one of whom informed me, that he made it a point, 
in summer, to kill every jay he could meet with. 
In the charming season of spring, when every thicket 
pours forth harmony, the part performed by the jay 
always catches the ear. He appears to be among 
his fellow-musicians what the trumpeter is in a 
band, some of his notes having no distant resem- 
blance to the tones of that instrument. These he 
has the faculty of changing through a great variety 
of modulations, according to the particular humour 
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 chat- 
terings of a duck, and, while he nestles among the 
thick branches of the cedar, are scarce heard at a 
few paces distance ; but he no sooner discovers 
your approach than he sets up a sudden and vehe- 
ment outcry, flying off, and screaming with all his 
might, as if he called the whole feathered tribes of 
the neighbourhood to witness some outrageous usage 
he had received. When he hops undisturbed among 
the high branches of the oak and hickory, they be- 
come soft and musical ; and his calls of the female, 
a stranger would readily mistake for the repeated 
screakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow. All these 
he accompanies with various nods, jerks, and other 
