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,
one had disappeared, and the other was hopping around the tree in great
excitement, holding in his beak a fluffy white feather about the size of
a jay's breast feather. I did not see the act, and I cannot absolutely
declare it, but I have no doubt that he pulled that feather from the
breast of his foe as he held him down; how many more with it I could not
tell, for I did not think of looking until it was too late.
Again one day, somewhat later, when blue jay and catbird babies were
rather numerous, I saw a blue jay dive into a lilac bush much frequented
by catbirds, young and old together. Instantly there arose a great cry
of distress, as though some one were hurt, and a rustling of leaves,
proclaiming that a chase, if not a fight, was in progress. I hurried
downstairs, and as I appeared the jay flew, with two catbirds after him,
still crying in a way I had never heard before. I expected nothing less
than to find a young catbird injured, but I found nothing. Whether the
blue jay really had touched one, or it was a mere false alarm on the
part of the very excitable catbirds, I could not tell. This is the only
thing I have seen in the jay that might have been an interference with
another bird's rights; and the catbirds made such a row when I came near
their babies that I strongly suspect the only guilt of the jay was
alighting in the lilac they had made their headquarters.