How to Tell the Birds from the Flowers and Other Woodcuts · Chapter
The Jay; The Bay explained
This chapter humorously compares a Blue Jay to a green Bay tree, suggesting that the only way to distinguish them is through their difference in color, emphasizing the importance of color sense.
What happens
This chapter humorously compares a Blue Jay to a green Bay tree, suggesting that the only way to distinguish them is through their difference in color, emphasizing the importance of color sense.
Themes in this chapter
Visual Perception and Deception
The chapter highlights how visual cues, specifically color, are crucial for distinguishing between a bird and a tree.
Humor and Absurdity
The absurd comparison of a jay to a bay tree and the reliance on color sense for identification adds a humorous tone.
Characters to notice
- the Birds
The Blue Jay is mentioned as a specific bird in the comparison.
Key passages
“The Blue Jay, as we clearly see, Is so much like the green Bay tree That one might say the only clue, Lies in their dif‑fer‑ence of hue, And if you have a color sense, You’ll see at once this difference.”
The Blue Jay and the green Bay tree are so similar that the only way to tell them apart is by their color, so if you can perceive colors, you'll notice the difference immediately.
Summarizes the chapter's central point about visual distinction.