THE BLUE JAY. 
Ill 
discovered that a Jay which had been raised in the aviary was the depredator. 
He was taken out and placed in a cage, with a quantity of corn, flour, and 
several small birds which he had just killed. The birds he soon devoured, 
but the flour he would not condescend to eat, and refusing every other kind 
of food soon died. In the north, it is fond of ripe chestnuts, and in visiting 
the trees is sure to select the choicest. When these fail, it attacks the beech 
nuts, acorns, pears, apples, and green corn. 
While at Louisville, in Kentucky, in the winter of 1830, I purchased 
twenty-five of these birds, at the rate of 6J cents each, which I shipped to 
New Orleans, and afterwards to Liverpool, with the view of turning them 
out into the English woods. They were caught in common traps, baited with 
maize, and were brought to me one after another as soon as secured. In 
placing them in the large cage which I had ordered for the purpose of send- 
ing them abroad, I was surprised to see how cowardly each newly caught 
bird was when introduced to his brethren, who, on being in the cage a day 
or two, were as gay and frolicsome as if at liberty in the woods. The new 
comer, on the contrary, would run into a corner, place his head almost in a 
perpendicular position, and remain silent and sulky, with an appearance of. 
stupidity quite foreign to his nature. He would suffer all the rest to walk 
over him and trample him down, without ever changing his position. If 
corn or fruit was presented to him, or even placed close to his bill, he would 
not so much as look at it. If touched with the hand, he would cower, lie 
down on his side, and remain motionless. The next day, however, things 
were altered, he was again a Jay, taking up corn, placing it between his feet, 
hammering it with his bill, splitting the grain, picking out the kernel, and 
dropping the divided husks. When the cage was filled, it was amusing to 
listen to their hammering ; all mounted on their perch side by side, each 
pecking at a grain of maize, like so many blacksmiths paid by the piece. 
They drank a great deal, eat broken pecan nuts, grapes, dried fruits of all 
sorts, and especially fresh beef, of which they were extremely fond, roosted 
very peaceably close together, and were very pleasing pets. Now and then 
one would utter a cry of alarm, when instantly all would leap and fly about 
as if greatly concerned, making as much ado as if their most inveterate 
enemy had been in the midst of them. They bore the passage to Europe 
pretty well, and most of them reached Liverpool in good health, but a few 
days after their arrival, a disease occasioned by insects adhering to every 
part of their body, made such progress that some died every day. Many 
remedies were tried in vain, and only one individual reached London. The 
insects had so multiplied on it, that I immersed it in an infusion of tobacco, 
which, however, killed it in a few hours. 
On advancing north, I observed that as soon as the Canada Jay made ita 
