IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
are bright blue and barred with black stripes. The head is finely 
crested. The bill, tongue and legs are black. This bold ravisher 
of bird nests is, perhaps, one of the finest colored of all our 
birds. He usually travels in flocks of some twelve to a hundred 
of his own species. Like the cardinal, he seldom remains in one 
locality during the \\ inter months, preferring to travel on, hunt- 
ing better and happier feeding grounds as he goes on.\ When 
hard pressed for food, however, he boldly mixes with the chicka- 
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dees that congregate in our yards, to partake of the suet,\ 
chopped meats and cracked wheat that is provided for thpn. 
The blue jay’s voice is anything but musical, and his har$h 
screams and shrieks seem sometimes to drown the voices of 
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\ more gifted fellow-creatures. 
I have said nothing in this paper of the game birds that are 
always with us, but that is a subject for a future efforts 
7 / _ 
“But cheerily the chickadee 
Singeth to me on fence and tree; / c 
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The snow sails round him as he sings, 
White as the down of angels’ wings.” 
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