40 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Insects are eaten by blue jays in every month in the year, but naturally only 

 in small quantities during the winter. The great bulk of the insect food consists 

 of beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars. * * * The average for the whole year 

 is nearly 23 per cent. 



Under vegetable food Professor Beal lists corn, wheat, oats, buck- 

 wheat, acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, hazelnuts, sumac, knotweed, sorrel, 

 apples, strawberries, currants, blackberries, mulberries, blueberries, 

 huckleberries, wild cherries, chokecherries, wild grapes, serviceberries, 

 elderberries, sour-gum berries, hawthorn, and pokeberries. He contin- 

 ues: "Grain is naturally one of the most important groups, and may be 

 considered first. Wheat, oats, and buckwheat occur so seldom and in 

 such small quantities (1.3 per cent of the whole food) that they may be 

 dismissed with slight comment. Wheat was found in only eight stomachs, 

 oats in two, and buckwheat in one. The wheat was eaten in July, Au- 

 gust, and vSeptember ; oats in March and July, and buckwheat in October. 

 Corn was found in seventy-one stomachs, and aggregates 17.9 per cent 

 of the food of the year. This is less than that eaten by the crow (21 

 per cent) or by the crow blackbird (35 per cent)," Professor Beal 

 summarizes his findings thus: 



The most striking point in the study of the food of the blue jay is the dis- 

 crepancy between the testimony of field observers concerning the bird's nest- 

 robbing proclivities and the results of stomach examinations. The accusations of 

 eating eggs and young birds are certainly not sustained, and it is futile to attempt 

 to reconcile the conflicting statements on this point, which must be left until 

 more accurate observations have been made. In destroying insects the jay un- 

 doubtedly does much good. Most of the predaceous beetles which it eats do not 

 feed on other insects to any great extent. On the other hand, it destroys some 

 grasshoppers and caterpillars and many noxious beetles, such as Scarabaeids, 

 click beetles (Elaterids), weevils (Curculionids), Buprestids, Chrysomelids, and 

 Tenebrionids. The blue jay gathers its fruit from nature's orchard and vineyard, 

 not from man's; corn is the only vegetable food for which the farmer suflfers any 

 loss, and here the damage is small. In fact, the examination of nearly 300 

 stomachs shows that the blue jay certainly does far more good than harm. 



William Brewster (1937) describes jays collecting acorns thus: "1898, 

 September 30. — Several Jays spent the entire day harvesting acorns in a 

 Red Oak that shades a village street of Bethel, Maine, taking them 

 thence across open fields to rather distant woods. They invariably 

 plucked them from the twigs while hovering on fluttering wings and 

 not when perched. The acorns were still green where the cups covered 

 them. Each Jay apparently always carried two at once, one in the 

 mouth or throat, the other held in the tip of the bill." 



Mr. Brewster (1937) also speaks of the jay as a flycatcher: "1888, 

 September 9. — At sunset this evening when the air was warm, damp 

 and calm, I saw about a dozen Blue Jays scattered about in the tops of 



