The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-08-31

The Country Rambler in the Pittsburg
 Sun.
 No you remember the fellow in your
 room at school who was always
 - picking at the younger scholars,
 badgering them, taking their pencils, knocking candy out of their hands and playing the bully generally? Was not he the first to yell unfair" when one of the older fellows set after him, and to brand the teacher as a tyrant? Do. you know man who will whimper and plead when
 you insist on his paying his account in
 full, and who is merciless toward his deb
 tors? J. Bird is little on that order,
 despite the fact that he and his ances- tors are Americans. He is an Ishmaelite
 among the feathehered inhabitants.
 Within two weeks he will begin to an-
 nounce his presence vociferously if he
 keeps the usual schedule. Blue Jay is
 his common name We may as well let 1t
 go at that.
 when you see him, nor need you be in
 doubt as to the identity of the fellow over on the hill pasture yelling Jay, ja-ay" at the top of his voice. About a foot long, nearly one-half of that length is tail, and a handsome piece of ornamentation 1t is. too He sets there, erect. blue crest raised, a daring, handsome fellow. A black band crosses his brow and seems like rib- bon to pass under the blue to the back of his head, where it appears again, and from it black ties fall and are drawn to- ahir, Wing and tail feathers are tipped broadly with white and handsomely crossed with dashes of black. To see him fly among the trees in conspicuous, rather floating, but not swift flight, you would imagine a certain dignity and formality such as accom- pany long tailed coats or full train skirts. Nor would you guess at first sight that he is a member of the crow family. Per haps this was another attempt with fine feathers to make a fine bird. But no, "out of the abundance of the heart the
 mouth speaketh," and that derisive jay. jay, jayl" better indicates his temper than do his elegant clothes.
 The blue jays one redeeming trait Is its devotion to it's home and young. Its nest is usually among the evergreens and not very far from the ground. Near home it is a model bird. deporting itself in a quiet, orderly manner. Beyond where its fence would be, if it had one. it is alto- gether different creature. Loud | mouthed, ill-mannered, overbearing, 1t will not hesitate to play the thief, de- spelling the nests of smaller birds, eating I eggs and even young. In fact, one author reports seeing it drag a full grown spar row from tree to tree. But it is far from 1 courageous and the brisk offensive o1
 some smaller birds will put it to flight 1 As might be imagined, blue jays are | great leases. Hawks and owls are theil most frequent victims. As an aid in this
 mischief is their skill in ventriloquy
 They are adopts at mimicry and especially are able to counterfeit the voices of the to attack and torment one of the lattel
 with a sort of diaboiical glee. The proce dure seems to be to simulate the cry of [ hawk and bring one of them to the sup posed rescue of a friend in trouble Wher he comes, there comes also a bevy of jayl l who proceed at once to bait him. Some times this results disastrously for al
 unwary jay.
 I have seldom seen them along sth, rivers; they seem to keep to the hills ni the back country. There used to stand l, haw tree in the corner of field neal Bane's hill. back of Bellevue. where ia,
 might be heard to jeer at the stroller mos