there was one sport of which jasper jay was over-fond. he loved to imitate the calls of other birds; and jasper was such a good mimic that he often deceived his neighbors by his tricks.
it was not pleasant for a sober, elderly bird-gentleman to come home at night from a hard day's work and have his wife accuse him of idling away his time.
"you can't deny it—for i could hear you laughing in the woods!" she might say.
and it was not always an easy task to convince her that what she had heard was nobody but that noisy rascal, jasper jay, playing a trick on her.
nor did jasper limit his droll teasing to his own neighbors. sometimes he hid in a tree near the farm buildings and frightened the hens by making a sound exactly like a certain red-shouldered hawk, who lived in the low woods along black creek, where frogs were plentiful. a fierce scream of "kee-you! kee-you!" was quite enough to alarm an old hen with a big family of young chickens. though she might know well enough that the red-shouldered hawk seldom made a meal of poultry, preferring frogs and field-mice above all other food, it was only natural that she shouldn't care to take any chances. the haste with which a nervous mother-hen called her family into the chicken house when she heard that cry of "kee-you! kee-you!" always amused jasp. 36per jay, for he never tired of the game.
surprising as it may seem, now and then jasper's hawk-call deceived even farmer green himself. and sometimes he would step into the kitchen and take his old gun off the hooks on the wall above the wide fireplace and hurry outside again in the hope of getting a shot at mr. hawk. it happened at last that in some way mr. red-shouldered hawk heard of this trick of jasper's. and that old gossip, mr. crow, warned jasper jay that he had better be careful.
"mr. hawk says that you are giving him a bad name with farmer green," mr. crow told jasper one day. "farmer green calls him 'that old hen-hawk,' and, of course, it's not very pleasant for mr. hawk to have somebody looking for him with a gun. i know what the feeling is like, myself," said old mr. crow. "believe me, it's enough to make one most uncomfortable!"
but jasper jay only shrieked with laughter.
"you'll sing a different song if mr. hawk catches you," mr. crow snapped.
and that made jasper jay scream all the louder. then he stopped laughing and said "caw! caw!" in a husky voice so like mr. crow's own that the old gentleman spluttered and fumed and all but chased jasper out of the woods where they were sitting at the time.
they never did get along well together—old mr. crow and jasper jay. they were cousins, you know. but that fact did not help matters at all. perhaps they knew too much about each other.
"don't worry about me!" said jasper jay at last.
"very well!" mr. crow replied stiffly.p. 38 "but remember—i've warned you!" he croaked. and then he flew away to his nest in a tall elm, overlooking the cornfield.
