DR. JEKYLL 
This same jay had carried food to his 
mate on the nest every half-hour all day 
long, and relieved her at short intervals. 
At one such time when I happened to see 
him, he straddled the eggs as if afraid to 
squat upon them, although realizing that 
some such method was necessary to keep 
them warm. With head on one side he 
looked down upon them in masculine pride 
and awkwardness ; then, suddenly catching 
sight of me, his whole manner changed. 
Instantly he was off the nest and hopping 
about with an elaborate assumption of in- 
difference and contempt. Nothing in that 
nest interested him 1 It was probably a last 
year’s catbird or tumble-down crow nest ! 
There was n’t a thing in it ! He was merely 
looking to see whether a squirrel had left a 
nut there. Finally, as if to convince me, he 
flew away from the tree entirely. 
Notwithstanding all their dash and bold- 
ness, the blue jays do not defend their homes 
from human hands, as do many other smaller 
birds, seeming to prefer stratagem. A 
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