The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-06-04
ABOUT THE BLUE JAY.
A Handsome Bird Which Is a Bully
and Coward.

From tall straight chestnut trees
strong. vigorous note sounds affair." jay.
JAY jay. The note moves about, fall
ing successfully from different but not
very distant spots. In few nome cts he
eye lights upon its source-it is the blue
jay, the handsomest and most mischiev-
Gus of our birds. His pale blue crest dis
tinguishes him at once; so do the white
bars on wings and tail, brilliant dark
blue wings and tail, pale throat decor
ated with a trim black collar; sharp black
bill that carries a menace to the timid,
set firm in front Of the strong, erect
head. 1t is a large bird, nearly twelve
inches long, or about the size of the
backbird.
The bluejay has had a great share Of
attention from our writer's. Long ago
Audubon watched its habits closely as he
followed it from its winter quarters in
Carolina to its summer breeding places in
the north.
He says little good of it, for il is a
predatory creature, robbing every nest
it can find and sucking eggs like a CROW
or tearing in pieces and devouring the
young. "One of my friends" he says,
put flying squirrel into the cage of a
blueJay merely to preserve X over night,
but on looking into the cage the next
morning he found the squirrel partly cat
en- A jay destroyed all the birds in an
aviary belonging to a man in Charles
ton. One after another had been killed !;
the rats were suspected, but no crevice
could be found large enough to admit one
Then the mice were accused and war
waged aginst them, but still the birds
continued to disappear, first the smaller
then the larger, and finally the large Key
West pigeons. At length the jay was
found to be the destroyer. He was taken
out and placed in a cage with a quaint
ty of -four and several small birds which
he had just killed. The birds he soon
devoured, but the -four he would not
touch, and, refusing every other kind of
food he soon died. Audubon undertook
to naturalize these birds in England. He
went to the trouble of purchasing twen-
ty or more of them to be sent to Englald
and turned out in the woods there. He
| records some lively studies of them as
they were slowly gathered into the big
cage he had ordered
II was surprised" he says, ito see how
cowardly each newly caught bird was
when introduced to his brethren who on
being in the cage a day or two, were as
gay and frolicsome as If in the woods.
The newcomer, on the contrary, would
run into corner place his head almost in
perpendicular position, and remain silent
and sulky, with an appearance of stupidity
quite foreign to his nature. He would suf-
fer all the rest to walk over him and
trample him down without ever chang
ing his position. If corn or fruit was pre-
scented to him or even placed close to his
bill he would not so much as look at it. II
touched with the hand he would cover,
lie down on his side and remain notion
less. The next day, however, things were
altered He was again a jay taking
up corn, placing it between his
feet, hammerng 1t with his bin, split
ting the grain, picking out the kernel and
dropping the divided husks. When the
cage was filled it was amusing TO listen to
their hammering, all mounted on their
perch, side by side, each pecking at a grain
of maize like so many blacksmiths paid
| by the piece. They drank a great deal
roasted very peacefully close together, and
were very pleasing pets"
They bore the sea voyage apparently
well, but all died soon after reaching Liv-
erpool. These birds are very expert in
discovering any quadrupsd hostile to birds.
They will follow a cat or a fox, making
a great cutlery, as if they would bring
every jay and crow TO their aid. They
are more tyrannical than brave, domineer
over the feeble. dread the strongest, fly
even from their equals. In many cases
they are downright towards. The cardinal
DlTu Will CHdlieuSt d jay anu peat MN
off his ground. though a much smaller
bird but with birds, as with men, a little
| honest courage goes a long way against
a thief. He creeps silently to the nests
of absent birds, will go the rounds from
one nest to another every day and suck
the newly laid eggs. as regularly as a
physician would call upon his parents
But the advantage is not always on his
side, for on his return he sometimes finds
his nest upset. the eggs all gone and his
mate in the jaws of a snake.