Evening star., 1946-12-23
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrdcetoeH.
"ARJJNGT0N Y,

ARLINGTON, Va.
Dear Sir:
"This may be old stuff to you and to
some of your many followers, but it's
new to me and might be to others It's
how to beat those cocky blue Jays and
make them behave meeker than cooing
doves.
Attract one flicker to the feeding
station.
Gust one flicker can and does make
10 blue jays fly a chalk beam.
"A lot of flickers have been coming
to the suet but none ever got IN the
feed box until this morning and when
a flock of jays came swooping and
+ staggering down from the trees they
lit on the edge of the feeder and hoped
off quick as soon as they saw what was
In it, '.
"Soon the flicker had his fill and few
off. Instantly the jays took over to
the exclusion of dozen other breeds.
But another flicker dropped by and you
should have seen the jays scoot.
can interesting thing was that several
smaller birds stopped right alongside
the flicker and ate away without worry
but no jays.
"And note this-the flicker made no
move toward the jays. He didn't even
look at them The blue jays Just saw
the flicker and went away fast.
Sincerely, j. P. Y"
This letter bears out common observa-
ton, that the ubiquitous blue jay, one
of the most American species, Is not as
pugnacious as some have claimed.
The jay believes, evidently, in the
power of the largest battalions and has
a good sense of caution
Larger birds win his respect.
The fine thing about the jay is that
he seldom bothers the smaller species,
either
While much has been said about his
tendency to attack the young of other
species and to eat the eggs, it may be
believed that large proportion Of this
talk is not based on much.
Anyone who watches the birds In his
own yard, for years may watch in vain
for the slightest sign of i'll will to other
species.
The jays is sprightly fellow some
what of braggart, with loud scream
and a bold appearance, but down at
heart, he is a pretty decent fellow.
His sudden appearance at feeding
station, naturally frightens the smaller
birds, including the sparrows, but even
before the jay has left, which he always
does, in a few minutes, the smaller ones
are hopping back.
Usually, when the jay faces them,
they fly away again, but the large bird
never pecks at them.
He may bend his "knees" and give
forth with his cry of "Me! Mel" as if
inviting attention to his blue and white
splendor, but he makes no attempt to
harm the others.
The apparently meek turtle dove is
much more belligerent.
We have seen doves chase jays many
times.
This is not to say that Americas blue
jay is coward. Far from it, He can
fight when he has to, but ordinarily
does not want to harm anything.
He has too good time flying and
eating, and screaming at the world in
general.
Living as he does. especially in winter,
in small family groups, consisting of
father, mother and four or five offspring,
he is always on the go.
Usually these small bands will fly
into station at the same hour every
morning, remain about 20 minutes, and
then fly off, after which nothing more
will be seen of them until the next
morning.
They seem to run on regular schedules.
Peanuts in the shell are favorite win
ter foods. Many Of them, the birds
remove to hide, sometimes burying them
as squirrel does, fother times they Sc
crete them in the crevices' of bark Of
trees, where they are found by other
birds and squirrels.
The jay is q bold protector of other
birds, always being among the first to
scream "robber" at maurauding animals
when they attack other species, and not
hesitating to fly down and strike the
four-legged animal on the back.
Between this hiding of food for smaller
species and protecting them from ami
mails, the blue jay is an altrnistic fel-
low who deserves-and usually gets
the admiration and respect Of observers.