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I observed then and afterwards that the jay was very attentive to his mate, and that the first mouthful was always for her, even when the babies were crying for food.

One of the prettiest sights about the pine-tree homestead was the way the jay went up to it.

He never followed the easy style of his mate, who simply flew to a branch below the one that held her treasure, and hopped up the last step.

He alighted much lower, often at the foot of the tree, and passed jauntily up the winding way that led to the nest, hopping from branch to branch, stopping on each and circling the trunk as he went, now showing his trim blue coat, now his Quaker-drab vest and black necktie.

On

While I was studying the manners and customs of the birds in blue, babies were growing up in the pine-tree nest. Five days after I began to observe, I saw little heads above the edge. the sixth they began stirring about in a lively way. Now came busy and hungry times in the jay family, and both parents worked from morning till night.

On the seventh day, I was up early in the morning, and I heard a baby-cry from the pine tree. On this day the first nestling mounted the edge of the nest, and fluttered his wings. Every night after that it grew more and more difficult to settle the household in bed, for everybody wanted to be on top, and no sooner would

one settle himself according to his mind than some under one, not liking his own position, would edge out, step over his brothers and sisters and take his place on top, and then the whole thing would have to be done over.

I think that mama jay often had to put an end to these evening performances by sitting down on her family, for generally it seemed a very restless nest when she calmly placed herself upon it.

Often in those days I wished that I could put myself on a level with that castle in the air, and look into it filled to the brim with beauty, as I knew it was. But I had not long to wait, for soon it became too full and ran over.

On the eighth day, one youngster of the family stepped upon the branch beside the nest and shook himself, and on the ninth came the plunge into the wide, wide world.

One can not but wonder what he thought when he

"First opened wondering eyes and found
A world of green leaves all around."

- Adapted from Olive Thorne Miller.

Definitions. - Jauntily, in a showy, airy way. Tidbit, a nice bit of something to eat. Circling, passing around in a circle.

Spell: dropped, hopped, attentive, babies, prettiest, hopping, stopping, circling, jauntily, stirring, seventh, sixth, eighth, mirth, evening, youngster.

What is the bluejay's coat? What is his vest? What is his necktie ?

Read, if accessible, chapters on the bluejay, in "A Bird Lover in the West."— Olive Thorne Miller.

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Animals talk to each other, of course. There can be no question about that; but I think there are very few people who can understand them.

I never knew but one man who could. I knew he could, however. He told me so himself. This was Jim Baker. He was a simple-hearted miner, who had lived in a lonely corner of California for years. He knew all the ways of his only neighbors, the beasts and birds.

Said he, "There's more to a bluejay than to any other creature. He has more kinds of feelings than any other creature; and mind you, whatever a bluejay feels, he can put into words. No common words either, but out and out booktalk. You never see a jay at a loss for a word. "You may call a jay a bird. because he has feathers on him. just as human as you are.

Well, so he is, Otherwise he is

"Yes, sir; a jay is everything that a man is. A jay can laugh, a jay can gossip, a jay can feel ashamed, just as well as you do, may be better. And there's another thing: in good, clean, out and out scolding, a bluejay can beat anything alive.

* See note on Lesson 48, in Supplemental Notes.

"Seven years ago the last man about here but me moved away. There stands his house-a log house with just one big room and no more; no ceiling, nothing between the rafters and the floor.

"Well, one Sunday morning I was sitting out here in front of my cabin, with my cat, taking the sun, when a bluejay flew down on that house with an acorn in his mouth.

"Hello,' says he, 'I reckon here's something.' When he spoke the acorn fell out of his mouth and rolled down the roof. He did n't care; his mind was all on the thing he had found.

"It was a knot-hole in the roof. He cocked his head to one side, shut one eye, and put the other to the hole, like a possum looking down a jug.

"Then he looked up, gave a wink or two with his wings, and says, 'It looks like a hole, it's placed like a hole-and-if I do n't think it is a hole!' "Then he cocked his head down and took another look. He looked up with joy this time; winked his wings and his tail both, and says, 'If I ain't in luck! Why, it's an elegant hole.'

"So he flew down and got that acorn and dropped it in, and was tilting his head back with a smile when a queer look of surprise came over his face. Then he says, 'Why, I did n't hear it fall.'

"He cocked his eye at the hole again and took a long look; rose up and shook his head; went

to the other side of the hole and took another look from that side; shook his head again. No use.

"So, after thinking awhile, he says, 'I reckon it's all right. I'll try it, any way.'

"So he flew off and brought another acorn and dropped it in, and tried to get his eye to the hole quick enough to see what became of it. He was too late. He got another acorn and tried to see where it went, but he could n't.

this before.

"He says, 'Well, I never saw such a hole as I reckon it's a new kind.' Then he got angry and walked up and down the roof. never saw a bird take on so.

I.

"When he got through he looked in the hole for half a minute; then he says, 'Well, you're a long hole, and a deep hole, and a queer hole, but I have started to fill you, and I'll do it if it takes a hundred years.'

"And with that away he went. For two hours and a half you never saw a bird work so hard. He did not stop to look in any more, but just threw acorns in and went for more.

"Well, at last he

could hardly flap his wings, he was so tired out. So he bent down for a look.

He looked up, pale with rage. He says, 'I've put in enough acorns to keep the family thirty years, and I can't see a sign of them.'

"Another jay was going by and heard him. So he stopped to ask what was the matter. Our jay told him the whole story. Then he went and

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