July, 1904 I 
THE CONDOR 
95 
most carefully close to its body. The bird hopped about from one side to the other, 
getting within eight or ten inches of the cat at times, but either seemed afraid to 
peck at quite such close range or else hoped to disturb the animal enough to cause 
it to switch its tail back a little. After trying these tactics for a while the jay 
flew back to the bush, but four times in perhaps ten minutes it hopped down 
again and went through the same performance. Finally it hopped to about six 
inches from the after end of the cat and screeched with all its might. One would 
naturally suspect that the cat would turn on the bird, but not a bit of it. He sim- 
ply cocked up his ears a bit, gave a careless glance rearward, snugged up his tail 
closer yet and went to sleep again. A fifth time the jay renewed the attack, but 
just at this moment another cat came strolling by and the proposed victim arose 
and joined it, leaving me to speculate as to how long the bird would have amused 
himself in this somewhat unusual manner. There was no food nearby and noth- 
ing to attract the bird except a strong desire to have some sport at the cat’s ex- 
pense. 
One of the queerest pranks of these jays, reported to me by a member of the 
household, was one I would have given something to have seen. It happens that 
our cats have the kitten habit to what seems an excessive degree, and, as their 
numbers must be limited, each batch of kittens is searched for assiduously as soon 
as their presence is suspected. Not long ago a certain tabby kept disappearing at 
short intervals for a couple of days and there was every reason to suspect that she 
had had a relapse of the above little failing. Diligent search failed to reveal the 
whereabouts of any “nestlings, ’’but one day a faint mewing outside the window 
attracted the attention of some one in the kitchen when lo and behold there was a 
jay hauling a very young kitten out from under a young artichoke plant in the 
garden. The jay lugged the poor kitten along for a little way, seeming to enjoy 
its feeble wails, and then stopped and screeched in exultation over the find, only to 
repeat the process again and again. Needless to say the old cat was not present 
at the moment or things would hav^e been made more lively. The bird certainly 
did not want to eat the kitten, and the affair seems to have been nothing else than 
a matter of pure mischief. Since this episode a jay chased a cat clear across the 
back yard — some fifty or sixty feet — by merely screeching at it and pretending to 
peck at its tail, the cat never stopping to show fight in any way. Lately nothing 
exciting seems to have transpired in this happy community and I think Mr. and 
Mrs. Jay are busy with household cares of their own at present, though I have 
not been able to locate their domicile. 
Sa>i Geronimo, Marin Co., California. 
The Leconte Thrasher 
BY M. french GII.MAN 
M y introduction to this interesting bird, Toxostoma lecontei, was during the 
summer of 1882 when his whistling note nearly confirmed my boyish be- 
lief in ghosts. In a mesquite and creosote bush thicket at Whitewater 
ranch was buried a Mexican horsethief who had died with his boots on. Near this 
thicket I frequently wandered though it was said to be haunted. On several oc- 
