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But, if Wilson's description is not over-coloured, it is far surpassed by the American blue jay (Garrulus cristatus). "This elegant bird," says he, "which, as far as I can learn, is peculiar to North America, is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants of our woods, by the brilliancy of his dress, and, like most other coxcombs, makes himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity, and the address of his tones and gestures. The jay measures eleven inches in length; the head is ornamented with a crest of light blue or purple feathers, which he can elevate or depress at pleasure; a narrow line of black runs along the frontlet, rising on each side higher than the eye, but not passing over it, as Catesby has represented, and as Pennant and many others have described it; back and upper part of the neck a fine light purple, in which the blue predominates; a collar of black proceeding from the hind head passes with a graceful curve down each side of the neck to the upper part of the breast, where it forms a crescent; chin, cheeks, throat, and belly white, the three former slightly tinged with blue; greater wing-coverts a rich blue, exterior sides of the primaries light blue, those of the secondaries a deep purple, except the three feathers next the body, which are of a splendid light blue; all these, except the primaries, are beautifully barred with crescents of black, and tipped with white; the interior sides of the wing-feathers are dusky black; tail long and wedge-shaped, composed of twelve feathers of a glossy light blue, marked at half-inches with transverse curves of black, each feather being tipt with white except the two middle ones, which deepen into a dark purple at the extremities; breast and sides, under the wings, a dirty white, faintly stained with purple; inside of the mouth, the tongue, bill, legs, and claws, black; iris of the eye hazle. A

blue jay," continues Wilson," which I have kept for some time, and with whom I am on terms of familiarity, is a very notable example of mildness of disposition and sociability of manners. An accident in the woods first put me in possession of this bird, while in full plumage, and in high health and spirits; I carried him home with me, and put him into a cage already occupied by a gold-winged woodpecker, where he was saluted with such rudeness, and received such a drubbing from the lord of the manor, for entering his premises, that, to save his life, I was obliged to take him out again. I then put him into another cage, where the only tenant was a female orchard oriole. She also put on airs of alarm, as if she considered herself endangered and insulted by the intrusion; the jay, meanwhile, sat mute and motionless on the bottom of the cage, either dubious of his own situation, or willing to allow time for the fears of his neighbour to subside. Accordingly, in a few minutes, after displaying various threatening gestures (like some of those Indians we read of in their first interviews with the whites), she began to make her approaches, but with great circumspection, and readiness for retreat. Seeing, however, the jay begin to pick up some crumbs of broken chesnuts in a humble and peaceable way, she also descended, and began to do the same, but, at the slightest motion of her new guest, wheeled round and put herself on the defensive. All this ceremonious jealousy vanished before evening, and they now roost together, feed, and play together in perfect harmony and good humour. When the jay goes to drink, his messmate very impudently jumps into the water to wash herself, throwing the water in showers over her companion, who bears it all patiently, venturing now and then to take a sip between every splash without betraying the smallest token of irritation. On the

tantius, refining upon this notion, thinks the youth was either captured by a legion, whose insignia was an eagle, or carried off in a ship having an eagle carved on the prow*. Cicero justly condemns the morality of the legend, which, however, he gives very inaccurately † from memory.

Gesner, on the authority of Fabricius ab Aquapendente, says, that some peasants between Meissen and Brisa, in Germany, losing every day some of their cattle, which they sought for in the forests in vain, observed by chance a very large nest, in which were found several skins of calves and sheep. This nest, which is described as being as large as the body of a cart, rested on three oaks. It is very doubtful, however, whether any species of eagle, with all its power of talon and of wing, could carry off an animal so large as a calf, which must be more weighty than itself. Hares, rabbits, and lambs, may indeed be easily managed; and when larger animals are encountered they may be carried off piecemeal, as is probably done with deer, which, Pennant says, are frequently in Scotland attacked by the erne (Haliætus albicilla, SAVIGNY). It seizes the deer between the horns, and incessantly beating it about the eyes with its wings, soon makes prey of the harassed animal‡.

Owls, it would appear, are equally provident of prey for their young. Bingley tells us that, on examining a nest of the hawk-owl (Otus brachyotus, FLEMING), "that had in it two young ones, several pieces of rabbits, leverets, and other small animals were found. The hen and one of the young ones were taken away; the other was left to entice the cock, which was absent when the nest was discovered. On the following morning there were Tusc. Quæst. i. Brit. Zool. vol. i. No. 43.

De Falsa Religione, i.

found in the nest three young rabbits that had been

brought to this young one by the cock during the night*

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M. Cronstedt, the mineralogist," resided several years at a farm in Sudermania, near a steep mountain, on the summit of which two eagle-owls had their nest. One day in the month of July, a young owl, having quitted the nest, was seized by some of his servants. This bird, after it was caught, was shut up in a large hen-coop; and the next morning M. Cronstedt found a young partridge lying dead before the door of the coop. He immediately concluded that this provision had been brought thither by the parent birds; which, he supposed, had been making search in the night-time for their lost young one, and had been led to the place of its confinement by its cry. This proved to have been the case by the same mark of attention being repeated for fourteen successive nights. The game which the old ones carried to it consisted principally of young partridges, for the most part newly-killed, but sometimes a little spoiled. One day a moor-fowl was brought, so fresh that it was still warm under the wings. A putrid lamb was found at another time. M. Cronstedt and his servant watched at a window several nights, that they might observe, if possible, when this supply was deposited. Their plan did not succeed; but it appeared that the owls, which are very sharp-sighted, had discovered the moment when the window was not watched, as food was found to have been deposited before the coop one night when this had been the case. In the month of August the parents discontinued this attention; but at that period all birds of prey abandon their offspring to their own exertions. From this instance some idea may be formed of the great quantity of game that * Anim. Biogr. ii. 216, sixth edit.

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Nest of the Bulfinch (Pyrrhula vulgaris, BRISSON). The celebrated American mocking bird (Orpheus polyglottus, SWAINS.) may not inappropriately follow our bulfinch, making its nest of similar materials, though it would appear from the description, as well as from Audubon's beautiful figure, to be a more substantial structure. "The precise time," says Wilson, "at which the mocking-bird begins to build his nest, varies according to the latitude in which he resides. In the lower parts of Georgia he commences building early in April; but in Pennsylvania rarely before the 10th of May; and in New York and the states of New England still later. There are particular situations to which he gives the preference. A solitary thornbush; an almost impenetrable thicket; an orange-tree,

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