Evening star., 1948-12-11
This and That
Bp Charles Z. TrdceiDeH

"QUACKENBos STREET
Dear Sir:
You say you have never seen blue jay
eating a fedgling hadn't either, until last
June. Here is an eyewitness account OF it.
MY children and were walking to the store
one morning about o'clock. We saw Jay
with something in his beak light in maple
n few feet in front OF US.
"The children scared him and he dropped
an almost grown baby sparrow. It's head and
neck were almost eaten away. The children
started to give 1t . decent burial but told
them 1t was no worse than when we kill and
eat hen.
"They sorrowfully agreed, but saw several
big tears roll down the cheek Of my 6-year-
old girl After We had moved on the Jay new
down and got his bird and took 1t to . limb
and put one foot on 1t to hold 1t and started
to peck vigorously. Sincerely, I. H."
LIP r. Of Alexandra, Va, on the other
hand, has seen good In jays, and writes as
follows:
1T would be a satisfaction to introduce
those who do not care for Jays to our own
specimens.
There are three of them.
whenever fresh supply Of food Is put IN
our feeding stations, the jays are generally
the frst to discover 1t, and will start yelling,
Seeds! Seeds Seedsr or something one can
easily translate.
The jays will peck at small bird that
comes too near, but have yet to see jay
really drive the small fry more than . yard
away.
This is no defense Of all blue jays hut
ye should certainly miss our dashing blue
coated neighbors no end"
- -
Our jays are credited in the larger bird
ki,o hrfk yOUnR
other birds.
some of the older paintings show q blue
Jay with dripping egg In its claws.
II may be assumed that this large bird ut
nesting time, when 1t must get protein 1oods
for It's own young, sometimes goes too Tar, at
least in . human sense. and taxes wnat "
shouldn't
The urge to take worms, mostly protein,
and insects, much the same, overcomes all
birds at nesting time.
such live things are the baby food" OF all
species Of birds, regardless Of what they nor
mally eat.
Thus ed-eating birds, as well as others,
go for insects and worms at nesting time
They not only give them to their own young,
but also eat them themselves ut this time.
The birds get . taste for such live foods.
and 1t is only natural, perhaps, that such q
bold fellow Is the jay would take another's
baby, or eggs.
Jays are belligerent in q sense, and are known
as nest robbers, but just the same the average
bird friend will not see evidences Of robbery
very often.
He will often see the father bird fly down
ut dogs and cats, at nesting time, and even
watch him now and then peck at the heads
Of human passers-by.
The onslaughts, however, are not as fierce
as those of the mockingbird at this time.
Altogether, the good points Of our jay must
far outweigh its bad ones.
One feature of these birds, of which there
must be many thousands in and around
Washington now, is their regular appearance
at q feeding station.
Usually they come at the same time every
day. Mostly they seldom stay more than 20
minutes or so.
The small bands are made up of mother and
father and the summers children.
They remain together all fall and winter
not parting until springtime.
Jays more or less stick together; and GER
tainly II we are willing to give them human
lied Standards we may feel that this shows q
love for their children not possessed by most
species Or perhaps this is q somewhat un-
fair way to look at the matter, because one
must be careful not to attribute too much to
creatures without books or other ways Of stor-
ing up ancestral wisdom 90 that 1t may be-
come accessible to the young In O compara-
lively short time.
1t is unquestionably true that there are
more blue jays and more robins in and around
Washington than there were so to rs years
ago. Some of the oldest bird books speak
Of both species Is rarities here. Fortunately
this is no longer the case.