COnVUS CRISTATUS. 
256 
with all the viriilency of a Billingsgate moh ; the owl, 
meanwhile, returning every compliment with a broad 
goggling stare. The war becomes louder and louder, 
and the owl at length, forced to betake himself to flight, 
is followed by his whole train of persecutors, until 
driven beyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction. 
But the blue jay himself is not guiltless of similar 
depredations with the owl, and becomes in his turn the 
very tyrant he detested, n hen he sneaks through the 
woods, as he frequently does, and among the thicket.s 
and hedge-rows, plundering every nest he can find of 
its eggs, tearing up the cjillow young by piecemeal, and 
spreading alarm and sorrow around him. The cries 
of the distressed parents soon bring together a number 
of interested spectators (for birds in such circumstances 
seem truly to sympathize with ea<,-h other,) and he is 
sometimes attacked with such spirit as to be under the 
necessity of making a speedy retreat. 
He will sometimes assault small birds, with the inten- 
tion of killing and devouring them ; an instance of 
which I myself once witnessed, over a piece of woods 
near the borders of Schuylkill; where I saw hiin 
engaged for more than five minutes pursuing what I 
took to be a species of motacilla (?/i. maculosa, yello"' 
rump,) wheeling, darting, and doubling in the air, and, 
ait last, to ray great satisfiiction, got disappointed, iu the 
escape of his intended prey. In times of great extremity, 
when his hoard or magazine is frozen up, buried iii 
snow, or perhaps exhausted, he becomes very voracious, 
and will make a meal of whatever carrion or othet 
animal substance comes iu the way, and has been found 
regaling himself on the bowels of a robin (turebi^ 
mif/ratorius) in less than five minutes after it was shot- 
There are, however, individual exceptions to this 
general character for plunder and outrage, a proneness 
for which is probably often occasioned by the wan^ 
and irritations of necessity. A blue jay, which I ha'’^ 
kept for some time, and with whom I am on terms d 
femiliarity, is in reality a very notable example of 
ness of disposition and sociability of manners. ^ 
