BLUE JAY. 
5 
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 himself to flight, is followed by his 
whole train of 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 circum- 
stances seem truly to sympathize with each other,) and he is 
sometimes attacked with such spirit as to be under the neces- 
sity of making a speedy retreat. 
He will sometimes assault small birds, with the intention of 
killing and devouring them ; an instance of which I myself 
once witnessed, over a piece of woods near the borders of 
Schuylkill; where I saw him engaged for more than five 
minutes pursuing what I took to be a species of Motacilla , 
wheeling, darting, and doubling in the air, and, at last, to 
my great satisfaction, got disappointed, in the escape of his 
intended prey. In times of great extremity, when his hoard 
or magazine is frozen up, buried in snow, or perhaps exhausted, 
he becomes very voracious, and will make a meal of whatever 
carrion or other animal substance comes in the way, and has 
