FLORIDA JAY 83 



percent, trace of feathers." The breakdown of the above is worthy of 

 note. Though the exact percentages are not given, the findings include 

 the remains of grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, termites, burrower-bugs, 

 squash bugs, leafhoppers, earwigs, beetles, weevils, butterflies, moths, 

 caterpillars, cutworms, bees, wasps, ants, anglewings, flies, millipeds, 

 and centipedes. Also included were spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, 

 mollusks, snails, turtles, frogs, and lizards. Vegetable matter was repre- 

 sented by wheat (Triticiun), crowfoot grass (Dactyloctcniiuii aegyptiwn) . 

 acorns (Qnercus), purslane (Porfiilaca), milkwort (Polygala), huckle- 

 berry {Gaylussacia) , blueberry, cranberry {Vaccinium), and fogfruit 

 (Lippia). Portions of vegetable debris and indeterminate matter (mast?) 

 and wood pulp were also present. 



Audubon (1842) states that the seeds of the saw palmetto are a 

 favorite food, so muc.h so, indeed, that "no sooner have the seeds of 

 that plant become black, or fully ripe, than the Florida jay makes them 

 almost its sole food for a time." He adds that the method of feeding- 

 is like that of the blue jay, for coendescens ''secures its food between 

 its feet, and breaks it into pieces before swallowing it, particularly the 

 acorns of the live oak, and the snails which it picks up among the 

 szuord palmetto." Nuttall (1832) also gives the seeds of the saw palmetto 

 as being eaten "largely." 



Bendire (1895) adds another item in his summiary of the food as 

 "ofi:'al." He also mentions wood ticks specifically, as does Maynard 

 (1896), the latter stating that "upon examining the contents of its 

 stomach, found that it was filled with tic,ks or jiggers which infest the 

 skin of all quadrupeds in this section of Florida." These references to 

 ticks substantiate, without saying so, of course, the observations of N. B. 

 Moore on the habit of this jay of alighting on the backs of cattle and 

 securing ticks in that manner. "Jigger" is the universal name of the red- 

 bug in the southeast, an even worst pest than ticks in many ways. 



Another food habit of this jay, not hitherto mentioned and something 

 of an indictment against the bird, is its fondness for the eggs and young 

 of other birds, and even of poultry. Just how much this is indulged in 

 does not seem clear, but there is certainly abundant evidence that pre- 

 dation of the sort occurs. Bendire (1895) states that this jay is "charged 

 with being very destructive" in this way. A writer whose name I am 

 unable to determine, but whose initials are C. S. C, writing in the 

 Chicago Field, says that they "eat and drink with poultry, having an 

 eye on eggs and young chickens." M. M. Green (1889) states: 

 "Stomachs of two shot contained insect food. The birds' bills w-ere 

 smeared with yolk of eggs. Several people told me that the jays were 

 nest robbers." Nuttall (1832) notes that it "destroys the eggs and young 



