A Plea for the Bluejay 



By Victor Kutchin 



Only the people who ha\e spent a lifetime in the study of nature realize 

 how little they know about it. On the other hand the definite, complete and all 

 embracing information seems to belongs to certain happy individuals Avho have 

 gi\en scarcely a passing thought to the wonder world alwut us. The real charac- 

 ter, life history, and economic value of even our common birds still demands 

 further observation and closer study, and so-called final conclusions must in the 

 nature of the case contain a large element of conjecture. The pitiful thing 

 about all this is that it results in many of our bird neighbors being the objects 

 of prejudice, perhaps the bluejay most of all. \\'aiving all other specifications 

 the general charge that he drives away other birds, and robs their nests, is suffi- 

 ciently grave to demand careful examination. The Biological Survey — the birds' 

 supreme court — has fortunately made such investigation^ and the report is to be 

 found in the year book" of the United States Department of Agriculture for 18%. 

 The stomachs of 292 jays all taken within one year in 22 states, Canada, and the 

 District of Columbia, were examined with the following results. Three were 

 foiuid to contain the fragments of the shells of birds' eggs, and two fragments 

 of the bodies of other birds. One of those containing fragments of another bird, 

 bones of a foot, claws and a little skin. ])robably the remains of a cat's supper, 

 could scarcely have been the result of nest robbing, as the stomach was taken 

 from a jay killed February 10th, a period remote from the breeding season. One 

 of the three containing shells was taken in October ; they seemed to be the shells 

 of a large bird, probably a grouse, and from the time of year was undoubtedly 

 a fragment of shell from a long deserted nest. Another stomach that contained 

 shells was from a jay taken late in August, and the season of the year would 

 indicctte that the fragments were also found in a deserted nest. So in the 292 

 examinations, we practically find but two individuals that might have been guilty 

 of the heinous crime of robbing other birds' nests of eggs and young. In view 

 of the fact that birds which die in the nest are at once thrown out by the wise 

 ni'jther bird, it is impossible to say that the fragment of the young bird was not 

 found dead on the ground. Again it is true to the observation of us all, that 

 birds' eggs are often broken and are more or less plentiful on the ground during 

 the breeding season. From all this it should appear that the evidence against the 

 jay is scarcely stronger than the shell of a hummingbird's egg. 



That there are individual criminals among every type of life, not exempting 

 the highest, man, it would be foll}^ to deny, l)ut in face of .nil the evidence t)n the 

 other side, to maintain, because individual jays may have robbed nests, that all 

 jays are nest robbers, is like claiming because Captain Kidd was a pirate that 

 all men are pirates. Disregarding all that Tennyson wrote in the idealization of 



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