Messenger Jay

Messenger jays are a domesticated variety of the wild grey jay that have been used for long-distance communication in Veiama for centuries.   They are indistinguishable from the wild grey jays save for their larger size (~3 inches longer wingspan). The main difference is their increased intelligence. As fledglings, the jays are taken to various locations and taught to associate each one with a particular tune. Once they are grown, they can then be directed to fly to specific locations by playing the associated tune.   Training a messenger jay takes a great deal of effort and expense, as they must be manually taken to each location and then spend about a week in each place, hearing the designated song regularly in order to make it stick. For this reason, messenger jays are raised in groups of around a dozen fledglings by professional trainers, who make a living doing nothing but travelling around and training the birds.   A single messenger jay can remember up to 20 locations. To send messages to distant places, a hub system is used whereby letters are sent to nearby hubs with many birds that can fly to other major hubs. From the next major hub, the letter can be once again passed to a local bird that knows smaller locations in the area.