Evening star., 1949-06-28
This and That
By Charles E. TraceWeH

This is blue jay weather.
Jays, at this season. mean belligerency.
That is what blue jay weather means at
this time Of year.
The first thing you know, here comes .
blue bolt Of lightning out Of the shrubbery.
It is father jay. fighting to protect his
babies.
There are four Of them there in the nest.
with the mother.
The four viii stay there for about month.
or maybe longer.
Few birds take better care Of their young
sters.
The mother and father may be called nat
ural parents. They really work at it.
They never fail. II baby falls to the
ground. the parents are right there beside 1t.
fighting OF all comers. human and animal
and bird. They stick to 1t. wherever it may
be. and bring 1t food.
This is in distinction to the actions Of
other species. which often fail to feed the
baby on the ground. No bird. of course. has
any way Of putting a fallen baby back in
the nest.
Jays often follow fallen baby into odd
places. One fell in window well of a house
under construction.
The parents new at carpenters who were
trying to help. They fought OH the men.
until finally the latter gave up work on the
window for the time being.
Admiration for jays will overcome any one
who watches them at this time.
These big birds are disliked by some peo-
pie. Occasionally an odd person will kill jays
indiscriminately. always instancing all the
slander spoken against the bird over the
years.
As q matter of fact. the jay is not bad
bird, In any real sense. Now and then he
will do something not exactly nice in the
human sense. but human beings do the same.
too. as the records show.
The jay is q good bird. in every real way
He combines beauty with boldness. and might
almost be said to be the originator Of the
phrase. "the new bold look"
Old Man Jay has it. So has mamma. So.
have the babies, which are as large and
handsome as the rest of the family
Young jays stick with the parents all sum-
mer and fall. and often all winter As most
persons who feed the birds know, the Jay
is one species we have with us always. Like
the cardinal. it Is around all year. The jay
Is not steady visitor to any one yard. He
comes and he goes. often running on q regu-
lar time schedule. One band. consisting Of .
half dozen or so, will fly In at o'clock in
next day at the same time.
Now and then q jay viii fly In with q
squawk as 1t alights on a house gutter.
Jays with q nest in q yard can become
something Of q nuisance.
They viii fly at all comers. especially hu-
mans and cats.
The other day two house cats were posed
In q window. behind the screen. when sud-
denly Q big jay flashed along the driveway.
The two cat heads moved as one. watching
the flight.
Both heads suddenly pulled back. rs the
Jay new right at the window.
He veered at three feet. but the cat watch
ers were rs surprised as II he had struck the
screen.
Jays often chase cats up trees. and peck
repeatedly at the middle Of the back. This
is q pretty picture TO watch.
The Jay Is q natural comedian. Mark
Twain once wrote about jay that decided
to I'LL an empty cabin with acorns by drop
ping them down the chimney. Surely that
would appeal to the jay nature.
Our jay is q natural cousin of the Canada
iay. the thieving whisky jack. as 1t Is called.
The Canadian jay Is smaller. but makes up
for It by his attraction to bright objects.
Our own blue jay shows no preference for
objects Of this sort He is bold flyer. with
sense Of fun, and manages his vocal chords
al the way from = raucous scream TO .
soft note peculiarly his own He also can
make . rafting sort Of sound.
Altogether, here II one Of our best birds .
real American one ought 70 Be glad 70 havs
around.