Many hard things have been said about this bird,--for one thing, that he eats eggs and young birds. You will notice, however, that many who repeat these stories about him say, "I have not seen the bird do so, but some one else has." Testimony like this is worth nothing. Such things are copied from one book to another because it is much easier to take what is set down in the books than to go out and see for one's self. Often a story which has no truth in it is said over and over till people believe it because they have heard it so often. Believe me, the blue jay is not half so bad as he is painted, and he has many lovable traits to make up for what he does do. Mr. Keyser brought up a young blue jay from the nest. He put him for a while into a cage with two young orioles. Like all young birds, all three of the youngsters were hungry, and expected everybody to feed them. So the young jay opened wide his mouth, and waited for something good to drop into it. He was met by the two orioles with their mouths wide open. There they stood, face to face, all asking to be fed. It was a funny sight. Then the blue jay baby was put into another cage, where were two young catbirds. To these he was very loving. He would sidle up to them and caress them, stroking their backs and wings with his bill. He insisted on sleeping between the two on the perch. He looked very droll with a small bird on each side of him, all snuggled up together. After a while the blue jay had a whole cage to himself. Then the other cages were moved to the front porch, and he was left alone on the back porch. This did not please him at all; he was lonely. He called and cried and fretted about till he was placed beside the others. Then he gave a cry of joy, and really squealed with delight. The West is richer than the East in jays. There are several in the Rocky Mountains and California. STELLER'S JAY is said to represent the Eastern bird I have been telling about. He is different in looks and larger. He is darker blue, with some sooty brown, and he has a fine crest. But he is the same noisy, jolly fellow as his cousin on the Atlantic side of the country. [Illustration: AMERICAN MAGPIE] If your home is in the West, beyond the Mississippi River, of course you know the AMERICAN MAGPIE. He is a large, splendid fellow, who looks especially fine when he is flying over your head. The magpie is all in black and white: white below and in shoulder patches, and black on the breast and above. In the sunlight he shows purple and blue and green shades over the black. He has a very long tail, which is wide in the middle and runs down almost to a point at the end. This is very showy, when he spreads it wide in flying. In California the magpie shows a curious variation. On one side of the mountains the magpie has a yellow bill, but the magpie on the other side has a black one, though in every other way they seem to be the same.