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THE


Avicultubal Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF

THE AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.


Third Series. —Yol. VIII.—No. 1 .—All rights reserved. NOVEMBER, 1916.


JAYS,


By Hubert D. Astley.


The coloured plate illustrates a lovely member of an exceed¬

ingly attractive and handsome genus, but, like all the Jays, not to

be trusted with smaller birds in an aviary. If our English Jaw

arrived for the first time as a rare foreigner from some part of South

America, aviculturists would exclaim at its beauty.


The family of the Jays is divided up into various genera.

The Blue Jay (North America and Canada) is Cyanocitta, as is the

Crowned Jay (Mexico) and the Long-crested or Diademed Jay

(Mexico and Western United States).


The Pileated, the Blue-bearded, the Black-headed, and the

Azure Jays are classed under Cyanocorax, whilst we have the subject

of our coloured illustration, along with the Peruvian, Beechey s,

Yucatan, and Hartlaub’s under the generic name of Xanthura. The

Himalayan Jay, the Lanceolated, etc., are styled Garrulus, and

so on.


Blue and green are colours which Jays are often garbed in,

and nothing is more beautiful than the patch of azure blue, barred

with black, on the wing of our native bird.


As a rule, Jays are either exceedingly tame or the reverse, but

always exceedingly knowing, with eyes to the main chance. They

are not easy to breed in captivity, for they are apt to devour their

nestlings, especially if a bountiful supply of animal and insect food

is wanting.


Very omnivorous, Jays will eat meat, sparrows, potato, dog



