Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1876 edition. Excerpt: ...sides of the primaries, light blue, those of the secondaries, a. deep purple, except the three feathers next to the body, which are of a splendid light blue; all these, except the primaries, are beautifully barred with crescents of black, and tipt with white; the interior sides of the wing-feathers are dusky black; tail long and cuneiform, 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 hazel. The Blue Jay is an almost universal inhabitant of the woods, frequenting the thickest settlements as well as the deep recesses of the forest, where his squalling voice often alarms the deer to the disappointment and mortification of the hunter, ---one of whom informed me that he made it a. point, in Summer, to kill every jay he could meet with. In the charming season of Spring, when every thicket pours forth harmony, the part performed by the Jay always catches the ear. He appears to be among his fellow musicians what the trumpeter is in a band, some of his notes having no distant resemblance to the tones of that instrument. These he has the faculty of changing through a great variety of modulations, according to the particular humor he happens to be in. Vhen disposed for ridicule, there is scarce a. bird whose peculiarities of song he cannot tune his notes to. When engaged in the blandishments of love, they resemble the soft chatterings of a duck, and, while he nestles among the thick branches of the cedar, are scarce heard a..