BLUE JAY. 



Cyanocitta cristata. 



Char. Above, purplish blue ; below, pale purplish gray, lighter on 

 throat and tail-coverts ; wings and tail bright blue barred with black ; wing- 

 coverts, secondaries, and most of tail-feathers broadly tipped with white. 

 Head conspicuously crested ; tail wedge-shaped. Length ii to 12^ inches. 



Nest. In a small conifer, about 20 feet from the ground, situated in 

 deep forest or near a settlement ; roughly but firmly constructed of twigs 

 and roots, and lined with fine roots. 



Eggs. 4-5; pale olive or buff, spotted with yellowish brown; i.io 

 X 0^85. 



This elegant and common species is met with in the interior, 

 from the remote northwestern regions near Peace River, in the 

 54th to the 56th degree, Lake Winnipeg in the 49th degree, 

 the eastern steppes of the Rocky Mountains, and southwest- 

 ward to the banks of the Arkansas ; also along the Atlantic 

 regions from the confines of Newfoundland to the peninsula of 

 Florida and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 



