July, x9o4 [ THE CONDOR 95 most carefully close to its body. The bird hopped about from one side to the other, getting within eight or ten inches of the cat at times, but either seemed afraid to peek at quite such close range or else hoped to disturb the animal enough to cause it to switch its tail back a little. After trying these tactics for a while the jay flew back to the bush, but four times in perhaps ten minutes it hopped down again and went through the same performance. Finally it hopped to about six inches from the after end of the cat and screeched with all its might. One would naturally suspect that the cat would turn on the bird, but not a bit of it. He sim- ply cocked up his ears a bit, gave a careless glance rearward, snugged up his tail closer yet and went to sleep again. A fifth time the jay renewed the attack, but just at this moment another cat came strolling by and the proposed victim arose and joined it, leaving me to speculate as to how long the bird would have amused himself in this somewhat unusual manner. There was no food nearby and noth- ing to attract the bird except a strong desire to have some sport at the cat's ex- pense. One of the queerest pranks of these jays, reported to me by a member of the household, was one I would have given something to have seen. It happens that our cats have the kitten habit to what seems an excessive degree, and, as their numbers must be limited, each batch of kittens is searched for assiduously as soon as their presence is suspected. Not long ago a certain tabby kept disappearing at short intervals for a couple of days and there was every reason to suspect that she had had a relapse of the above little failing. Diligent search failed to reveal the whereabouts of any "nestlings,"but one day a faint mewing outside the window attracted the attention of some one in the kitchen when lo and behold there was a jay hauling a very young kitten out from under a young artichoke plant in the garden. The iay lugged the poor kitten along for a little way, seeming to enjoy its feeble wails, and then stopped and screeched in exultation over the find, only to repeat the process again and again. Needless to say the old cat was not present at the moment or things would have been made more lively. The bird certainly did not want to eat the kitten, and the affair seems to have been nothing else than a matter of pure mischief. Since this episode a jay chased a cat clear across the back yard--some fifty or sixty feet--by merely screeching at it and pretending to peck at its tail, the cat never stopping to show fight in any way. Lately nothing exciting seems to have transpired in this happy community and I think Mr. and Mrs. Jay are busy with household cares of their own at present, though I have not been able to locate their domicile. San Geronimo, ]Plarin Co., alifornia. The Leconte Thrasher BY M. FRENCH GILMAN Y introduction to this interesting bird, 7bxosloma lecontei, was during the summer of i88 when his whistling note nearly confirmed nay boyish be- lief in ghosts. In a mesquite and creosote bush thicket at Whitewater ranch was buried a Mexican horsethief who had died with his boots on. Near this thicket I frequently wandered though it was said to be haunted. On several
