130 Kansas Academy of Science. 



SOME OBSERVATIONS ON THE FOOD HABITS OF THE 

 BLUE JAY {CyancAtta cristata). 



By L. L. Dychb, University of Kansas, Lawrence. 

 . Read before ttie Kansas Academy of Science, at Emporia, November 26, 1907. 



IT is not the object of this paper to give a detailed account 

 of the food habits of the blue jay based on the examina- 

 tion of the stomachs. However, more than 150 stomachs have 

 been examined, and a few notes will be given on this phase 

 of the subject. 



In 1896 Mr. F. E. L. Beal, assistant biologist. United States 

 Department of Agriculture, made a detailed report on the 

 examination of 292 stomachs which he had carefully studied. 

 The material had been collected in every month of the year 

 and from twenty-two states. At the close of his report, where 

 he sums up the interesting results of his investigations, he 

 says: "The most striking point in the study of the food of 

 the blue jay is the discrepancy between the testimony of field 

 observers concerning the bird's nest-robbing proclivities and 

 the results of stomach examinations. The accusations of eat- 

 ing 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 observa- 

 tions have been made. In destroying insects the jay undoubt- 

 edly 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 scarabseids, 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 veg- 

 etable food for which the farmer suffers 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." 



I have examined more than half as many stomachs of the 

 blue jay as were examined by Mr. Beal. More than half of 

 my material was collected in the city of Lawrence, and none 

 of it more than ten miles distant. So far as stomach exam- 

 inations go the results of my investigations were not very 



