CROWS AND JAYS 



219 



many others that arc really imisiial, hcsides 

 which he has considerable skill as a ventrilociuist 

 and as a mimic. In the latter capacity witness 

 his frequent and almost perfect imitation of the 

 whistled scream of the I'Jed-shoiildered Hawk, 

 which many will insist is a deliberate attempt to 

 terrify the other birds, and is perfectly in keeping 

 with the Jay's love of a practical joke. 



(Jeorce Gladden. 



Stomach analysis indicates that about three- 

 fourths (76 ])er cent.) of the Jay's food consists 

 of vegetable matter and that most "f this is 

 acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, and the like. Such 

 noxious insects as wood-boring beetles, grass- 

 hoppers, eggs of various caterpillars, and scale 



insects constitute about K)'/^ per cent, of his 

 food. Predacious beetles contribute about 3j/> 

 per cent. This leaves but i per cent, for the 

 birds and eggs, the mice, fish, salamanders, 

 snails, and crustaceans, that make uj) the re- 

 mainder of his diet. According to Mr. F. E. L. 

 Beal, the Jay does not eat the seeds of poison 

 ivy or poison sumac and the distribution of these 

 seeds cannot be charged to him. 



In the i^eninsula of I'"lorida the Hlue Jay is 

 smaller and his color is paler and duller. The 

 white tips on the wing- and tail-feathers are 

 smaller. .So here he is given the name of the 

 Morida Blue Jay {Cyaiiocitta cristata florin- 

 cola). 



Photograph by Mrs. H. A. Colby 



BLUE JAYS 

 In Maine 



STELLER'S JAY 

 Cyanocitta stelleri stelleri (Gmelin) 



A. O. U. Number 478 



Other Names.— ^fountain Tav ; Pine lav; Conifer 

 Jay. 



General Description. — Length, i2'4 inches. Fore 

 and upper parts, sooty ; rear under parts. bUic. Head, 

 conspicuously crested ; wings and tail, about equal in 

 length, and rounded. 



Color. — Head (includini/ crest), neck, and uf'f'er 



portion of chest, plain black or sooty-Hack, the fore- 

 head usually streaked with blue (cerulean or azure) 

 and chin and upper throat usually streaked with pale 

 grayish ; back and shoulders, plain dark sooty-brown, 

 rump and under parts posterior to chest, blue ; the 

 upper tail-coverts, alinost cerulean-blue ; wing-coverts 

 and primaries, dull cerulean or Sevres-blue, the greater 



