98 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



rood for the year but averaged nearly half of it during the summer 

 months and 61.41 percent in May. In addition to what fruit the jay eats, 

 much more is damaged and left on the trees to rot and more falls to 

 the ground. 



Robert S. Woods writes to me: "The California jay is very destruc- 

 tive to almonds and finds no difficulty in cracking the harder-shelled 

 varieties. Its raids begin before the nuts are ripe enough for human 

 consumption and continue as long as any of the crop remains. The 

 almond is held against a branch with the foot and vigorously pounded 

 with the bill until an opening is made large enough to permit the kernel 

 to be extracted piecemeal. English walnuts are broken into while still 

 on the tree. However, the Eureka variety, at least, seems to be immune 

 after the shell has thoroughly hardened, though some of the thinner- 

 shelled strains or varieties could doubtless be successfully attacked even 

 after maturity, 



"Jays will often eat dry bread crumbs but greatly prefer food of a 

 more fatty nature. When coarsely chopped suet is placed on a feeding 

 table, it is ignored by most of the local dooryard birds, but the jays will 

 diligently carry away and hide the pieces until all are gone." 



From the foregoing evidence it may be seen that the California jay 

 has more faults than virtues. It has few redeeming traits, and economi- 

 cally it does more harm than good. Its beauty and its lively manners make 

 it an attractive feature in the landscape, but it may be that there are 

 too many jays in California. 



Behavior. — There is much in the actions of the California jay that 

 reminds one of our familiar eastern blue jay ; it is a handsome villain, but 

 one misses the jaunty crest. It is far less shy, much bolder, more im- 

 pertinent, and more mischievous. Its flight is just as slow and apparently 

 laborious, accomplished by vigorous, heavy flappings of its wings on its 

 usually short flights ; it lives mostly at the lower levels among the trees 

 and shrubbery and may often be seen sailing down over a brush-covered 

 hillside with its blue wings and tail widely spread ; as it glides upward 

 to its perch it greets the observer with its harsh cries. It is quick and 

 agile in all its movements, as it darts about through the underbrush, 

 where it searches diligently for small birds' nests, or follows the little 

 birds about to learn their secrets. It is not above picking a quarrel with 

 the California woodpecker, whose stores it probably wants to steal, but, 

 like most thieves, it is a cowardly bird and often needs the support of 

 its fellow brigands. It is cordially disliked and dreaded by all the 

 smaller birds. It is a nuisance, too, to the sportsman or the bird student, 

 as its curiosity leads it to follow a human being about and proclaim his 



