BLUE JAY. 
191 
dish naturalist in forming them into a separate genus by them- 
selves. 
The Blue Jay builds a lai’ge nest, frequently in the cedar, 
sometimes in an apple-tree, lines it with dry fibrous roots, and 
lays five eggs, of a dull olive, spotted with brown. The male 
is particularly careful of not being heard near the place, making 
his visits as silently and secretly as possible. His favourite food 
is chesnuts, acorns, and Indian corn. He occasionally feeds on 
bugs and caterpillars, and sometimes pays a plundering visit to 
the orchard, cherry-rows, and potatoe-patch ; and has been 
known, in times of scarcity, to venture into the barn, through 
openings between the weather-boards. In these cases he is ex- 
tremely active and silent, and if surprised in the fact makes his 
escape with precipitation, but without noise, as if conscious of 
his criminality. 
Of all birds he is the most bitter enemy to the Owl. No sooner 
has he discovered the retreat of one of these, than he summons 
the whole feathered fraternity to his assistance, who surround 
the glimmering solitaire^ and attack him from all sides, raising 
such a shout, as may be heard, in a still day, more than half a 
mile off. When in my hunting excursions I have passed near this 
scene of tumult, I have imagined to myself that I heard the 
insulting party venting their respective charges with all the 
virulency of a Billingsgate mob; 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 him- 
self to flight, is followed by the whole train of his persecutors, 
until driven beyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction. 
But the Blue Jay himself is not guiltless of similar depreda^ 
tions with the owl, and becomes, in his turn, the very tyrant 
he detested, when he sneaks through the woods, as he frequently 
does, and among the thickets and hedge-rows, plundering every 
nest he can find of its eggs, tearing up the callow 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 
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