verb, transitive. To subject to aggressive pressure or intimidation. To make repeated small-scale attacks (military).
The cheek of birds when confronting creatures who can and do prey on them is always surprising.
Bluejays steal food from the housecats' bowl. It's easy for them to get away with this when the bowl sits on the porch; not so easy when the bowl is in the garage. The side door is open, but it is a mostly-enclosed space. One marauding jay was caught while snacking. The cat trotted out of the garage, the bird in his mouth. The cat changed the grip of his jaw and the bluejay was able to escape. Within three minutes, he returned with all his friends and relatives, who landed in the trees and proceeded to squawk insults at the cat, who sat glumly, sphinxlike, glaring at them.
More surprising is what crows do to hawks and owls when they find one. A group of crows will pursue a raptor, cawing and even approaching it and pecking at it in flight. They will harrass the larger, more threatening bird until they have driven it out of their territory.
Definitions adapted from The New Oxford American Dictionary, Oxford University Press, Inc., 2005 (eBook Edition, copyright 2008), and from Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam Company, Publishers, Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, 1965, depending on which is more convenient to hand.
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