TU.rK JAY. 1,;:; 



Like tlie Crow, lie is with U8 tliroui^liont the year. J)ur- 



iiii^ the simnnor he is not very common, and is remark- 



al»ly (juic't, l»ut in September and (Jcto- 



^.! *^' , ht'i- miiz-rants an-ive from the Nortli, and 



Cyanncitta criKiatd. ^ * ' 



the hirds are then a])iindant in hands. 

 These hands roam altout the coiinti'v hke a lot ot" scliool- 

 hoys out cliestnutting, ])ausin<z; wherever tliey lind acorns 

 and cliestnuts ahundant, or leaving their feast to w<jrry 

 some poor ( )\vl whose hiding place they have discovered. 



The Blue Jay's best friend could not conscientiously 

 call him a songster, but as a conversationalist he rivals 

 the Crow. I have yet to discover a limit to his vocalj- 

 ulary, and, although on ])rinciple one may ascrilje al- 

 most any strange call t(j the Blue Jay, it is well h) with- 

 hold judgment until his loud, harsh jaij ! jaij ! betrays 

 the caller's identity. Xot content with a language of 

 his own, he borrows from other birds, mimicking their 

 calls so closely that the birds themselves are deceived. 

 The Ked-shouhlered, Bed-tail, and Sparrow Hawks are 

 the species whose notes he imitates most often. 



The Blue Jay nests in the latter part of ^NLay, build- 

 ing a compact nest of rootlets in a tree ten to twenty 

 feet from the ground. The eggs are ])ale olive-green 

 or brownish ashy, rather thickly marked with varying 

 shades of cinnamon-brown. 



Orioles. Ulackiurds. etc. (Family Tcterid.t:.) 



The poj)ular names of many of our birds were given 

 them by the early colonists because of their fancied I'e- 

 semblance to some Old World species. The fact that 

 some of these names are iiicoi-rect and misU'ading has 

 been j)ointed out scores of times, but they are now as 

 lirmly fixed as the signs of the zodiac. 



