CORVID^E — THE CROWS. 



275 



principal streets of Eichmoiid, the same gentleman found tlie nest of these 

 birds in a lilac-bush, under the window of a dwelling. In the summer of 

 1843 I saw a nest of the Jay, iilled witli young, in a tree standing near the 

 house of Mr. Audubon, in the city of New York. The habits of no two 

 species can well be more unlike than are those which persecution un the 

 one liand and kind treatment ou the other have developed in tliis bird. 



The Blue Jay, wherever found, is more or less resident. This is espe- 

 cially the case in the more southern portions of its area of reproduction. In 

 Texas, Dr. Lincecum informs us, this Jay remains both summer and winter. 

 It is there said to build its nest of mud, a material rarely if e\-er used in 

 more northern localities; and when placed not far from dwclliu^-liouses, 

 it is lined with cotton tiiread, rags of calico, and the like. Tliey are, he 

 writes, very intelligent and sensible birds, subsisting on insects, acorns, 

 etc. He has occasionally known them to destroy bats. In Texas they seem 

 to seek the protection of man, and to nest near dwellings as a means of 

 safety against Hawks. They nest but once a year, and lay but four eggs. 

 In a female dissected by him, he detected one hundred and twelve ova, and 

 from these data he infers that the natural life of a Jay is about thirty years. 



Mr. Allen mentions finding the Blue Jay in Kansas equally at home, 

 and as vivacious and even more gayly colored tlian at the North. While 

 it seemed to have forgotten n(.me of the droll notes and fantastic ways 

 always to be expected from it, tliere was added to its manners that famil- 

 iarity which characterizes it in tlie more newly settled portions of the 

 country, occasionally surjirising one witli some new expression of feeling 

 or sentiment, or some unexpected eccentricity in its varied notes, perhaps 

 developed by the more southern surroundings. 



The Blue Jay is arboreal in its habits. It prefers the shelter and security 

 of thick covers to more open ground. It is omnivorous, eating eitlier ani- 

 mal or vegetable food, though with an apparent preference for the former, 

 feeding upon insects, their eggs and larvte, and worms, wherever procurable. 

 It also lays up large stores of acorns and beech mast for food in winter, 

 when insects cannot be procured in sufficient abundance. Even at this sea- 

 son it hunts for and devours in large quantities tlie eggs of the destructive 

 tent caterpillar. 



The Jay is cliarged witli a propensity to destroy the eggs and young of the 

 smaller birds, and has even been accused of killing full-grown birds. I am 

 not able to verify these charges, but they seem to be too generally conceded 

 to be disputed. These are the only serious grounds of complaint that can 

 be brought against it, and are more than outweighed, tenfold, by the immense 

 services it renders to man in the destruction of his enemies. Its depreda- 

 tions on the garden or the farm are too trivial to be mentioned. 



The Blue Jay is conspicuous as a musician. He exhibits a variety in his 

 notes, and occasionally a beauty and a harmony in his song, for which few 

 give him due credit. Wilson compares his position among our singing birds 



