This very important contribution to English literature--far more important then than any similar performance could be now--is, strange to say, nowhere mentioned in what is regarded as the best history of English literature. And just here the remark might be appropriately made that omissions of this kind in standard literary histories and cyclopædias go far to call in question the qualifications of the editors. A word may be overlooked or forgotten, but a scholar who has contributed substantially to the growth and enrichment of a great language deserves a better fate. STELLER'S JAY. (_Cyanocitta stelleri._) The jay is a jovial bird--Heigh-ho! He chatters all day In a frolicsome way With the murmuring breezes that blow--Heigh-ho! Hear him noisily call From the redwood tree tall To his mate in the opposite tree--Heigh-ho! Saying, "How do you do?" As his topknot of blue Is raised as polite as can be--Heigh-ho! Oh, impudent jay, With your plumage so gay, And your manners so jaunty and free--Heigh-ho! How little you guessed, When you robbed the wren's nest, That any stray fellow would see--Heigh-ho! This is an abundant and interesting cousin of the bluejay and is found along the Pacific coast from northern California northward. It is a very common resident of Oregon, is noisy, bold, and dashing. The nest of this bird is built in firs and other trees and in bushes, ten to twenty feet from the ground. It is bulky and made of large sticks and twigs, generally put together with mud, and lined with fine, dry grasses and hair. The eggs are three to five, pale green or bluish green, speckled with olive-brown, with an average size of 1.28×.85. There seems no doubt that many jays have been observed robbing nests of other birds, but thousands have been seen that were not so engaged. It has been shown that animal matter comprises only about twenty-five per cent. of the bird's diet. [Illustration: STELLER'S JAY. 1/2 Life-size. FROM COL. F. KAEMPFER. A. W. MUMFORD, PUBLISHER, CHICAGO. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY NATURE STUDY PUB. CO., CHICAGO.] LINEN FABRICS. W. E. WATT, A. M. We had just taken that delightful ride down the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and experienced the thrill of mingled pleasure and fear which everyone has at the moment when the vessel is dashing at a furious rate directly towards a great rock, and we were sure that someone had made a mistake for once, and no power could save us from being dashed in pieces, when a sudden whirling current of the stream picked the ship out of the way of the rock and carried her safely through the boiling foam into a place of comparative safety.