Evening star., 1945-01-23
This and That
By Charles E. Trdcet1eH.
ARLINGTON, VA.

Dear Sir:
I'VE have been reading your column
avidly, and always get SO many helpful
ideas in ways to befriend our feathered
outdoor friends.
I'VE have pair of blue jays in our
yard that have been amusing us, as well
as displaying an intelligence that We did
not know birds possessed
Il am passing this informatio on to
you, thinking that some other readers
might enjoy it, too.
1T seems that in coming to our bird
feeding station the male jay, particu-
larly, discovered q bushel basket in our
yard containing peanut vines and pea
nuts that we had grown in our garden.
He would help himself to q peanut,
which looked very funny in his beak,
and fly to nearby tree. Another time
he had deposited one in some iris plants
on the driveway and, remembering where
he hid it, hoped from tree to shrub
in a most methodical way until he re-
trieved his prize and then promptly
new away.
ITO date have never seen him break
the shell and eat one of his stolen
peanuts, but presume he does Or is
he one of the birds with a soft beak
like a startling who cannot crack seeds
open?
IF not. then can you hazard guess
as to what he does with these green
peanuts. Sincerely, c. F. t.
We hazard the guess, at this readers
invitation, that the jay both eats them
and hides them.
He seems to prefer to retire to a
distance from the finding point before
he opens nut or seed.
This may be due to innate caution,
in the natural belief that if no one
sees him eating he probably will get
more to eat.
Or he may just like to eat by himself.
The jays diet, according to scientific
investigation, is 80 per cent pure: that
is, only / per cent has been found to
consist of bird eggs and birds.
This is remarkable record, admitted
by the very persons who insist on speak
ing of him as nest robber.
Practically all of his food, in other
words, consists of vegetable matter, most
of it acorns, chestnuts, ETC., with some
animal matter
He eats noXious insects, such as wood
borers, grasshoppers, scale insects, cater
pillar eggs and various beetles.
Other foods eaten are mice, fish and
salamanders And now and then, it
must be admitted, birds egg, and very
occasionally bird baby.
On the whole, then, we rightfully may
regard our blue jay as very beneficial
bird.
Certainly he is one of the strongest
and most beautiful, and by all odds the
most amusing of all our native species.
This latter quality is evident to any
one who watches him for a few min
utes. Not only is he comical in the
things he does and the way he does
them, but he also possesses sense of
the comic, an observer may swear. 1t,
of course, is impossible to prove it, but
it seems very evident to the friends of
these fine birds that they really enjoy
doing the things they do, and even look
around for applause.
The jay, as all the members of his
race, is hiding bird that is, he buries
his treasures of food, either under leaves
or else in the cracks and crevices of tree
bark.
In this way he not only is one of the
great tree planters, but also does more
than other birds toward providing other
and smaller species with food during the
winter months
Perhaps no other American bird can
be said to have preserved the lives Of
SO many of his winged associates. Tit
mice, chickadees, nuthatches and the
various woodpeckers are indebted to
him for much that they find in the
crevices of bark.
Somehow, We feel sure that the blue
jay knows this, and takes real 10y,
despite his hluster to the contrary, Ia
being able to help his fellow birds. We
have known people that MY.