Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1881-11-23
The Eluc..IaN.

1t IS during the fall and winter that this
bird is seen most frequently and to the best
advantage. At this time he is off duty and
bound 10 have good time. HIS domestic
Cares for the season are over; he has reared
his annual family and trained them in the
way they should go, and they have gone,
and he also is at liberty TO go whittier he
listetn. He casts off bis last years suit
which has grown bit shabby during the
working season and, arrayed in clothing OF
the latest fashion and most brilliant dyes.
and with a jaunty plumed cap upon his
head he salies foltd IN search of adven-
lures, the veriest coxcomb in all tue world.
Among ali of our beautiful plumaCed
birds, and we have more of them than
many persons suppose, there ere few or
none that can vie with the jay in brlllian-
cy of coloraiiOn, though the whole effect
is produced by the single co.or blue, in
various shades and combinations with black
and white and tinge of gray. The tints
vary froDI strong, rich ultramarine to pale
delicate lavender which fades away to the
gray beneath, and when contrasted with
the deep green Of the summer forest, the
gayer the hues of the autumn foliage or the
dazzling white of the winter landscape. the
effect is strikingly beautiful. The form and
movements OF the bird are well adapted to
exhibit his splendid colors to the best ad-
vantage. Never still, yet seldom moving
swiftly, he is constantly hopping from
branch to branch or fitting from tree to
tree. II is custom of his to alight or one
of the lower limbs and then hop from this
to the next higher, and so on till he has
gained the top, and then wing his way to
another.
As singer, the jay has no reputation
in fact, there are those who think his voice
is the worst part Of him; yet there is much
TO please the lover of nature in his various
notes, and 10 those who associate them
with the pleaSantest months of the wear
the season of the harvest, the time of the
fruition Of the hopes and labors of the
spring and summer-they suggest fields OF
ripening corn, orchards bending with their
loads and golden forests where the brown
nuts are rafting down. His notes are OF
three kinds; the most common and the enc
by which be is best known, is a hoarse
scream which he uses as call for he
mate and to express his displeasure when
spG AAAA A.fyu hAldN nC CpllSlttTS his
own domain You are walking quietly
through the woods some calm October
morning, when you are startled by shrill
voice amid the branches just above, and
locking up, you catch glimpses of him as
he hops from one limb TO another, stopplns
for moment on each, 20 shower down y
voley of imprecauons on your devoted
head; then springing into Il iree-top. he
passes The cry along TO half dozen others,
who take it up and make the woods ring
with what appear 10 be anything but Com.
plimentary relarks. AT another tine.
when all is still in the forest and you do
not yourself disturb the silence, there may
come to your ears q soft chuckling sound:
and, peering through the bushes, you Will
see two or three jays; either on the ground
or very near it, all busily engaged In cou-
yersation, in those low, mysterious tones
that iadicatica the discussion of Some
choice of much reiished bird scandal. An
other note, the most peculiar of all, is
only heard when the leaves are falling or
have fallen, and is particularly suggestive
of the still, smoky days of the Indian sum-
mer. This note Is so difficult OF desciip-
ton that shall not attemptit. Mr.. Samuels
says thet 1t is IAN exceedingly sweet bell
like note, that possesses Eournful tone,
ike that of far-of hamlet bell lolling
funeral dlrge."
The jay is not solitary bird. and when
one is seen 1t Is pretty certain that another.
AID perhaps several are rot far of, and
being in company they are always ready
for fsolic They delight to torment those