Editor [possibly Miles Greenleaf]. December 21, 1919. The Mighty Have Fallen [Blue Jay]. Omaha Sunday World-Herald 55(12): 10-E. A bird editorial.

The Mighty Have Fallen.

Splendid in his white and blue toggery, the Bluejay delights us in the summertime, as he gracefully swoops his huge bulk through woodland, brilliantly shining against the background of green, in search of nice, fresh butternuts and other natural food.

A noble creature, this Bluejay, in the summer!

Strong and handsome, and yet with just enough naughtiness in his cosmos to endear him still more to sin-loving Americans, he is among the most popular inhabitants of the forest, especially with the kiddies. His remarks are not beautiful, but carry conviction with them, and the proud manner in which he carries his stately head insures an immediate respect.

We have known more than a few humans of this sort; those who have strutted their brief hour in the summer of their prosperity with a grandeur quite impressive, only to meet worse days, and to suffer by the comparison.

For the Bluejay is yet in our midst, but - degraded creature - is chiefly associated with garbage cans and dumps where edible offal and scraps of discarded food-stuff furnish his meager winter meal!

How have the mighty fallen! How is the azure blue of this remarkably splendid bird contaminated by his zero habits akin to those of the grunting porker!

Oh, Mister Bluejay - even your policeman's screech has lost all its music and sounds more like the delighted warwhoop of a starved vulture sighting a carcass from afar, or the chortle of a broken-down human, who once sat at elbows with royalty and finger-bowls, but who has just located a free lunch in this arid land of ours!

The rise and fall of the Bluejay is an annual transformation, and well worth watching. Just at present he is a winged alley-rat!