132 Kansas Academy of Science. 



potatoes, bread, oatmeal, rice, boiled eggs, apples and bananas 

 are not infrequently found in their stomachs. A considerable 

 amount of mineral matter is always found in the gizzards, 

 such as pieces of stone, glass, various kinds of gravel, and 

 occasionally such articles as beads, buttons and pieces of 

 broken china. 



I now desire to speak of some observations on the food hab- 

 its of the blue jay, made by myself and others, not based on 

 the examination of the contents of stomachs. One day last 

 winter I noticed nearly a pint of walnut hulls at the mouth 

 of a spout that carried the water from the roof of the wash- 

 house. At first I thought it was the work of squirrels. I 

 soon learned that blue jays were taking pieces of walnuts that 

 were left near some stones where the boys had been cracking 

 them. The jays would carry the pieces of walnuts to a tree 

 that overhung the wash-house. The birds would hold the 

 pieces of walnuts on a limb with their feet and pick out the 

 meats. We would crack nuts for them in the evening and 

 watch them perform early next morning. They would take 

 whole acorns, hold them the same as they did the pieces of 

 walnuts, and pick them to pieces. They also tried whole wal- 

 nuts and hickory-nuts, but failed to get them open. Walnuts 

 are undoubtedly an unnatural food for blue jays. Yet after 

 they got a taste of them they eagerly searched for the broken 

 pieces every morning. When food is plenty the jays eat what 

 they like best; when it is scarce they eat almost anything in 

 the shape of food that they can find. They are fond of mul- 

 berries; I have seen them eat them many times in my own 

 yard. I have also seen them eat blackberries, apples and 

 green corn. 



On July 21, 1907, 1 saw three working in a sweet-corn patch. 

 One of these birds picked open an ear that had not been in- 

 jured by other birds and began vigorously to pick at the grains 

 of corn. 



The above observations are such as might be made by any 

 one willing to give a little time to the study of the blue jay 

 in his natural haunts. 



There are other observations not so easily made, and more 

 to the point of this paper, which I now desire to give. My 

 two small boys, George and Lindsay, ages eight and twelve 

 respectively, aided me very materially in making these ob- 

 servations. They were usually in the yard a great deal of 



