2 The Blue Jay 
graceful, arrayed by Nature in a garb so resplendent, should harbour so 
much mischief;—that selfishness, duplicity and malice should form the 
moral accompaniments of so much physical perfection! Yet so it is, and how 
like beings of a much higher order, are these gay deceivers. Aye, I could 
write you a whole chapter on this subject, were not my task of a different 
nature.” 
Alexander Wilson esteemed the Blue Jay a frivolous fellow: ‘This 
elegant bird is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants 
of our woods, by the brilliancy of his dress; and, like most other coxcombs, 
makes himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity, and the oddness of 
his tones and gestures. In the charming season of spring, when every 
thicket pours forth harmony, the part performed by the Jay always catches 
the ear. He appears to be, among his fellow-musicians, what the trumpeter 
is in a band, some of his notes having no distant resemblance to the tones 
of that instrument. These he has the faculty of changing through a great 
variety of modulations, according to the particular humor he happens to be 
in. When disposed for ridicule, there is scarce a bird whose peculiarities of 
song he cannot tune his notes to. When engaged in the blandishments of 
love they resemble the soft chatterings of a Duck; and, while he nestles 
among the thick branches of the cedar, are scarce heard at a few paces dis- 
tance; but no sooner does he discover your approach than he sets up a 
sudden and vehement outcry, flying off, and screaming with all his might, 
as if he called the whole feathered tribes of the neighborhood 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 call of the female, a stranger would readily mistake for the repeated 
creakings of an ungreased wheelbarrow. All these he accompanies with 
various nods, jerks and other gesticulations, for which the whole tribe of 
Jays is 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.” 
Of the more modern writers on the life-history of the Blue Jay, the late 
Major Bendire says: “Few of our native birds compare in beauty of plumage 
and general bearing with the Blue Jay, and, while one cannot help admiring 
him on account of amusing and interesting traits, still even his best friends 
cannot say much in his favor, and, though I have never caught one actually 
in mischief, so many close observers have done so, that one cannot very 
well, even if so inclined, disprove the principal charge brought against this 
handsome freebooter.”’ 
It is an unfortunate fact that if a bad name is attached to a person or a 
bird it is hard work to live it down, even though the bearer has been con- 
demned on hearsay evidence. The story of guilt may have been started on 
* Carl von Linne = Linnezus, born May 24, 1707, at Rashult, Sweden. 
