Evening star., 1947-12-09
This and That
By Charles E. Trace,DeH
BETHESDA, Md.

BETHESDA, Md.
Dear Sir:
II am newcomer to Washington, and do
not know all the birds. That is putting 1t
mildly! do not even know the name of the biz
blue one with crest that comes to the feeding
station every day. Could this be the blue
bird?
II get great deal of fun out of the birds,
even II don't know their names II YOU can
tell me the name of this one I will be very
much obliged. Thanking you, am
Sincerely yours, j. p"
***
The bird is the blue jay
This Is the real clown of the bird world This
character lieT not only in what he does, but
the way he does it.
There are several jays, but only one comes
to this vicinity. This is sometimes called the
Northern blue jay, perhaps to distinguish It
from the Canada jay, on the one hand, and
the Florida jay on the other
Our Jay is almost foot long with the g1lsto
and aplomb that should go with its size Both
tne canada Jay and the Florida specimen are
about an inch shorter, but the resemblance ends
there. The Canadian specimen wears black
cap, and Is great thief. The Florida jay is
the same as ours, but slightly grayer above
Our particular jay, variously called Jay bird
and just plain jay, is the largest bird we have
that comes in the color blue
Usually he is accompanied by his mate and
several children,
These small bands fly into yard at some
given time Of the day.
favored period is just after real daylight.
Then the birds will swoop in, with the scream
ing SO characteristic OF them Some listeners
think they CALL "cat, cat cat" but that is all a
matter of imagination. What they do is scream.
and 1t has an Indian sound to it which goes
SO well with the appearance Of this bird Here
Is real American, If there is one. He likes
his land, he finds 1t good: to the jay. all the
air and ground a.
smaller birds are timid; like some folks, they
walk meekly. Not SO our jay. He shouts, he
h1es. he bends his knees and screams to the
high heavens. He has a cooling noise, when he
wishes to make 1t, soft and sweet, but he pre-
fers his bolder notes, and is not chary about
using them
He flies In on a slant liking to settle down
on roof gutter preferably on the porch, to
look over the situation before he lands
He fiies into the feeding station, and scatters
the other birds there, not that he harms them,
IN any way. but simply because in nature the
smaller always give place to the larger
Much has been said against the bluejay, but
careful watching will show that the creature
has been the victim Of Sur campaign.
While 1t sometimes eats the eggs of other
birds, and even may kill their young in most
cases Is 1t much too busy flying and yelling its
head OF.
It is true that other birds, especially at nest
ing time, watch 1t with great suspicion Part
OF this attitude is due, however, to the greater
size OF the bird.
1t not only is large, for a songbird, but 1t has
the attributes of power that make it seem
larger than it really is, and this must affect
the birds as well as the human observers
An active, engaging rascal" one famous
birdman called him. Most watchers will be
willing to agree to this even to the epithet;
rascal, In such usage carries with it more than
a hint of admiration
blue jay admirer can be sorry that we do
not have the Canada jay, or whisky jack, too;
the latter is a thief, but good one, and its
meeting with our own jay ought to be inter-
esting.
Our jay hides food, but he does not come into
homes and steal SOAP or bright objects 1t Is
even said that the whisky jack eats soap! He
might be called the Canadian soap eater
Our own jay Is more to our fancy, since the
Canadian specimen resembles large chicka-
dee. The cheerful chickadee needs no imitator
Our jay initiates nobody In birdland: he 10
forever his own bird standing on his own two
feet, screaming Justify at the world and telling
us all to be Americans, frst, last and all the
time, not imitation Europeans.