BLUE JAY. 
3 
and, while he nestles among the thick branches of the cedar, 
are scarce heard at a few paces distance ; but he no sooner 
discovers your approach than he sets up a sudden and 
vehement outcry, flying olf, and screaming with all his might, 
as if he called the whole feathered tribes of the neighbour- 
hood to witness some outrageous usage he had received* 
When he hops undisturbed among the high branches of the 
oak and hickory, they become soft and musical ; and his calls 
of the female, a stranger would readily mistake for the repeated 
screakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow. All these he 
accompanies with various nods, jerks, and other gesticulations, 
for which the whole tribe of jays are so remarkable, that, 
with some other peculiarities, they might have very well 
justified the great Swedish naturalist in forming them into a 
separate genus by themselves.* 
* This has now been done; and modern ornithologists adopt the title 
Garrulus, of Brisson, for this distinct and very well defined group, containing 
many species, which agree intimately in their general form and habits, and are 
dispersed over every quarter of the world, New Holland excepted. The 
colours of their plumage are brown, gray, blue, and black ; in some distributed 
with sober chastity, while, in others, the deep tints and decided markings, 
rival the richest gems. 
Proud of ccerulean stains, 
From Heaven’s unsullied arch purloin’d, the jay 
Screams hoarse. Gisborne’s Walks in a Forest. 
In geographical distribution, we find those of splendid plumage following 
the warmer climates, and associating there with our ideas of Eastern 
magnificence ; while the more sober dressed, and, in our opinion, not the 
least pleasing, range through more temperate and northern regions, or those 
exalted tracts in tropical countries, where all the productions in some manner 
receive the impress of an alpine or northern station. This is no where 
better exemplified than in the specimens lately sent to this country from the 
lofty and extensive plains of the Himalaya, where we have already met with 
prototypes of the European jay, black and green woodpeckers, greater titmouse, 
and nutcracker. They inhabit woody districts ; in their dispositions are cunning, 
bold, noisy, active, and restless, but docile and easily tamed, when introduced 
to the care of man, and are capable of being taught tricks and various sounds. 
The following instance of the latter propensity is thus related by Bewick: — • 
"We have heard one imitate the sound made by the action of a saw, so exactly, 
