ing-time, I shall
relate exactly as I saw them, and the record will be found a very modest
one. In this case, certainly, the jay was no more offensive than the
meekest bird that has a nest to defend, and far less belligerent than
robins and many others. On one occasion a strange blue jay flew up to
the nest in the pine. I could not discover that he had any evil
intention, except just to see what was going on, but one of the pair
flew at him with loud cries, which I heard for some time after the two
had disappeared in the distance, and when our bird returned, he perched
on an evergreen, bowing and "jouncing" violently, his manner plainly
defying the enemy to "try it again." At another time I observed a savage
fight, or what looked like it, between two jays. I happened not to see
the beginning, for I was particularly struck that morning with the
behavior of a bouquet of nasturtiums which stood in a vase on my table.
I never was fond of these flowers, and I noticed then for the first time
how very self-willed and obstinate they were. No matter how nicely they
were arranged, it would not be an hour before the whole bunch was in
disorder, every blossom turning the way it preferred, and no two looking
in the same direction. I thought, when I first observed this, that I
must be mistaken, and I took them out and rearranged them as I
considered best; but the result was always the same, and I began to feel
that they knew altogether too much for their station in the vegetable
world. I was trying to see if I could discover any method in their
movements, when I was startled by a flashing vision of blue down under
the locusts, and, on looking closely, saw two jays flying up like
quarrelsome cocks,--only not together, but alternately, so that one was
in the air all the time. They flew three feet high, at least, all their
feathers on end, and looking more like shapeless masses of blue feathers
than like birds. They did not pause or rest till one seemed to get the
other down. I could not see from my window well enough to be positive,
but both were in the grass together, and only one in sight, who stood
perfectly quiet. He appeared to be holding the other down, for
occasionally there would be a stir below, and renewed vigilance on the
part of the one I could see. Several minutes passed. I became very
uneasy. Was he killing him? I could stand it no longer, so I ran down.
But my coming was a diversion, and both flew. When I reached the place