The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1916-02-03
POLICEMAN IN FEATHERS.
The Blue Jay is the Preserver OF Or
der Among Birds.

If the sapsucker and the yellow
hammer are to be known as the wood
carvers among birds; the bank swal-
low and the kingfsher as the work
ers in clay; the oriole as the expert
weaver, we are quite sure the alert,
self-satisfed, suspicious bluejay
should be the policeman. 1t takes no
great streak of the Imagination to
see in his blue coat the tight fitting
garb of the brass buttoned man, who
takes his rest leaning against a tele-
phone pole. And, the jays blue-gray
crest suggests the helmet of the
pompeus director of traffic. The
white bars across the deep blue Of
his wings, were surely put there in
lieu of sargeant's cevrons. About
all he lacks in the way of equipment
is the club, and his strong, black
beak more than takes the place of
that. His official position is the re-
suit of no elections, he is just self
appointed officer, who is glad to
serve without pay, and furnish his
own uniform.
He goes on duty little after day
break, and doesn't leave his beat un-
TIL the last brown thrush has retired
for the night, and if you are close
observer you will have noticed that
the stars are sometimes out before
the thrush is safely tucked in bed.
He has a detective sort of way of
suddenly turning up in the most un-
expected places and rasping out an
inquiry as to your business there.
He is ever expecting something to
happen and is afraid he won't get
there in time to see it. Just let a
strange cat find nice sunny spot on
the lawn for a nap and it won't be
@ two minutes before our inqusitive
blue coat has located her, and with
swooping down and rancus cries,
advises her to @move on Let a
family of English sparrows find a
crust of bread and here ne comes,
4 stalking boldly in their. midst! They
s are also required to move on" and
when they have moved he seizes the
morseI, flies to the nearest tree and
holding it steady with his feet pro-
ceeds to sample it's quality. A pair
Of catbirds may be only looking for
suitable place to build their nest,
quite an innocent occupation, it
Z would seem, but the jay feels called
on to overlook all their movements.
Let poor little screech owl, half
smOthered in the suffocating heat of
her shut in hollow, crawl up to the
entrance for breath of fresh air,
but before she can get the second
whiff the keen eye of this guardian
Of the peace, has stopped her. Figu-
ratively speaking, he shakes his club
right in her face and calls her all
sorts of ugly names that even a >po-
liceman should not use. Not salts
fed with this, he yells, murder! and
thief! until every bird in hearing
drops anything he may be doing and
hastens to mingle with the noisy
mob. The little owl sits there,
meeHy blinking and silently wonder
ing what all this commotion is about.
Pushing aside a couple of sparrows
and rudely hustling lady catbird
out Of mis- way, our valiant bluecoat
rushes right up to the rotted hollow,
fully intending to drag the owl out
and place her behind the bars. But
just then his eyes fall on her long,
strong talons,' drawn up in a most
Threatening manner, as if about to
make grab in his direction! In
one small second his vaunted braver-
ry changes into adject discretion and
3 he quickly places himself in the rear
of the warning sparrows. He is brave
enough when there is no great risk
in being brave, but if it looks as if
some one may be hurt he is going to
take good care that it is not he. In
carrying out his chosen role of gen.
eral supervisor he likes to puff out
his chest and hold his helmeted head
very erect and soldier-like if he