THE JAY. 
fine fibrous roots. It lays four or five eggs, which are of a dull 
olive colour, spotted with brown. 
The great objection to the jay as a cage-bird is the offen- 
siveness of his excrement ; but this arises from the custom of 
allowing the bird to eat anything he will, which is simply 
every eatable thing, — fish, meat, poultry, vegetables, and fruits. 
I should advise jay -keepers to compel their birds to vegeta- 
rianism. Keep them almost entirely on nuts and wheat. You 
will find that this diet, with a plentiful supply c/f water for 
drinking and bathing, will keep the jay in perfect health, and 
his cage will be no more offensive than that of the starling or 
blackbird ; the best cage being in fact very like that used for 
the starling, but with brass wire bars, and of the largest size, 
— not less than two feet square. 
The American blue jay is a very handsome bird ; on his head 
he wears a crest of light blue, and the upper portions of his body 
are of a light bluish purple. The chin, cheeks, and throat are 
bluish white, while the abdomen is pure white. The wing-coverts 
are of rich azure, barred with black streaks, and tipped with 
white. The middle feathers of the tail are light blue, deepening 
into purple towards the tips, and the remaining feathers are 
light blue, barred with black and tipped with white. 
It is a native of North America, and in its habits very much 
resembles the common English jay. As an imitator of voices 
and sound, the blue jay is unequalled, and will, with equal 
fidelity, utter the softest and most musical notes, or the harsh 
screaming of the hawk. Indeed, in the latter performance, it 
seems to take an especial delight, and true to the mischievous 
character of the family, will sometimes break out into the loud 
scream of the hawk, to be immediately followed by the tiny 
wailing of a bird in distress, at once putting all the little 
songsters in the neighbourhood into terrible commotion. 
The blue jay exhibits the same aversion to owls as his 
English relative, and will attack them whenever they meet. 
Hawks also are held in disfavour in jaydom, and whenever a 
solitary one comes to their neighbourhood, he is almost sure to 
be driven out in a most lamentable condition. Sometimes, how- 
ever, the tables are turned, for the hawk will suddenly dart at 
one of his persecutors and fairly carry him off, to the great 
consternation of his friends. 
Webber, the naturalist, gives a very animated description of 
the blue jay and its antecedents. He says : “ The pine-log 
cutters of the north know him well, and bestow on him many a 
