Sometimes
it was behind the tray in his cage, or among the
books on the shelf. The places he liked best were
about me,--in the fold of a ruffle or the loop of a
bow on my dress, and sometimes in the side of my
slipper. The very choicest place of all was in my
loosely bound hair. That, of course, I could not
allow, and I had to keep very close watch of him,
for fear I might have a bit of bread or meat thrust
among my locks.
In his clearing up he always went carefully over
the floor, picking up pins, or any little thing he
could find, and I often dropped burnt matches,
buttons, and other small things to give him something
to do. These he would pick up and put
nicely away.
Pins Jakie took lengthwise in his beak, and at
first I thought he had swallowed them, till I saw
him hunt up a proper place to hide them. The
place he chose was between the leaves of a book.
He would push a pin far in out of sight, and then
go after another. A match he always tried to put
in a crack, under the baseboard, between the
breadths of matting, or under my rockers. He
first placed it, and then tried to hammer it in out
of sight. He could seldom get it in far enough to
suit him, and this worried him. Then he would
take it out and try another place.
Once the blue jay found a good match, of the
parlor match variety.
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