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Jabberjays art

Jabberjay illustrations - Audobon Style - for President Snow's office, used in set dressing for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.[1]

A jabberjay is an exclusively male bird muttation created in the Capitol by Dr. Kay to spy on enemies of the Capitol.[2] Jabberjays had the ability to memorize and repeat entire human conversations.[3]

Mechanics[]

While in record mode, they were silent, but in neutral mode, they acted like normal birds.

By default, jabberjays were set on "neutral." This meant that if they heard a human voice, they would repeat it, but would quickly move on to something else, such as another voice or a snatch of birdsong. Before the end of the First Rebellion, the jabberjays were all released into the wild on neutral. In order for them to work for spying, they had to be placed on "record." In this mode, the bird would fall entirely silent and stay at attention until was placed back on "neutral." Once this was done, another command could be executed to get to recite everything that it had recorded. All three commands were accomplished using tones which were inaudible to human beings, but easily registered by the birds. On a good day, a single bird could record for up to an hour.[2]

History[]

During the First Rebellion, the birds were released around District 9, District 11, District 12, and "wherever [the Capitol] thought they'd be of value", in order to record in places that could not easily be bugged with microphones. They were recalled to the laboratory in the dead of night so no one would notice. However, rebels worked out that the birds were spies and fed the Capitol false information.[2] Following the failure of this project, Dr. Kay released the birds into the wild on neutral.[2] Exclusively male, jabberjays were not meant to be able to reproduce, but they mated with female mockingbirds and created the mockingjay.[3]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes[]

Coriolanus Snow and other District 12 Peacekeepers were assigned the task of helping scientists catch and care for 50 jabberjays and 50 mockingjays.[4] The jabberjays were relatively easy to catch, and despite being ten years since they had switched settings by remote control, they still worked. Dr. Kay demonstrated this for Coriolanus by recording their conversation and playing it back.[2]

Later, Coriolanus used a jabberjay to record Sejanus Plinth[5] admitting his escape plan, and he worried whether Sejanus would notice why the bird was so silent. When the 100 birds were sent to the Capitol, Dr. Gaul caught the recording, leading to Sejanus's arrest and execution.[6]

Catching Fire[]

Jabberjays flying in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Jabberjays flying in Catching Fire.

By the 75th Hunger Games, the Capitol had replenished the jabberjay population. In the 4 to 5 o'clock section, the birds mimicked the screams of tributes' loved ones, luring in Finnick Odair and Katniss Everdeen. A transparent barrier kept them inside, forcing them to listen to the torturously realistic shrieks of Annie Cresta, Primrose Everdeen, Katniss' mother, Madge Undersee, and Gale, Rory, Vick, and Posy Hawthorne. After 5:00 had passed, Katniss worried that the Capitol had tortured their loved ones to produce screams for the jabberjays to memorize, but Peeta Mellark and Beetee Latier assured Katniss and Finnick that the Capitol had used digital or mechanical means to warp their voices into screams, their voices being taken from the words said in the final 8 interviews with the remaining tributes' families.[7]

A jabberjay beside costume design sketches for Mockingjay - Part 1.

A jabberjay beside costume design sketches for Mockingjay - Part 1.

Appearance[]

Jabberjays were described as small, crested black birds, with nothing that visually betrays them as being mutts.[7] Their black feathers serve as nighttime camouflage.[2]

Trivia[]

  • Coriolanus Snow became rather fond of the birds when he looked after them in District 12. He was known to play with the birds' recording capabilities: he made them repeat back "silly phrases and sing bits of the anthem", and he tried to see how many he could control at once (which was up to four, when their cages were close together).[5]
  • In the Citadel, Avoxes were tortured with jabberjays that echoed their screams.[8]

References[]

  1. [1] Peeta's Mural of Rue Featured In HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Concept Art
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 26
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Hunger Games, Chapter 3
  4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 25
  5. 5.0 5.1 The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 27
  6. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 28
  7. 7.0 7.1 Catching Fire, Chapter 24
  8. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Chapter 8
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