steller’s jay. 
63 
flesh and eggs. When they have caught a small bird, 
which they can only do when feeble and sickly, or 
ensnared, they place it under their feet, and with 
their hill tear it to pieces, swallowing each piece 
separately. Nevertheless, they give the preference to 
grains or fruits* The northern species are wary and 
provident, collecting stores of food for the winter. 
They are very petulant ; their motions quick and 
abrupt, and their sensations lively. When alarmed by 
the appearance of a dog, fox, or other living or dead 
object, they rally together by a peculiar note as if they 
would impose upon it by their numbers and disagreeable 
noise. When on the ground, they display great activity ; 
or if on trees, they are continually leaping about from 
branch to branch, and hardly ever alight on dead or 
naked ones. They are generally met with in forests, 
seldom in open plains ; their favourite resort is among 
the closest and thickest woods. Less suspicious and 
cunning than the crows, or even the magpies, they may 
be decoyed into snares and taken in great numbers, 
especially by imitating the voice of one of their own 
species in difficulties, or by forcing a captive individual 
to cry. They live in families, or by pairs, the greater 
portion of the year; and though considerable numbers 
may be seen travelling at once, they always keep at 
intervals from each other, and never in close flocks 
like the crows. They are easily tamed, and are 
susceptible of attachment ; learn readily to articulate 
words, and imitate the cries of different animals. They 
have a troublesome propensity to purloin and conceal 
small objects not useful to themselves, and as jewels 
and precious metals are peculiarly apt to attract their 
notice, they have been the cause, when kept as pets, 
of serious mischief. Every one is familiar with the 
story of the thieving magpie, become so celebrated by 
the music of Rossini, and which is founded on fact. 
The jays breed in woods, forests, orchards, preferring 
old and very shaded trees, placing their nests in the 
centre against the body, or at the bifurcation of large 
limbs. The nest is built without art, and is formed of 
1 ^J\JQ:g'4v r 
