356 I^IFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The average measurement of sixty-two eggs in the United States National 

 Musemn collection is 31.54 by 22.54 millimetres, or about 1.24 by 0.89 inches. 

 The largest egg of the series measures 34.29 by 22. 8G millimetres, or 1.35 by 

 0.90 inches; the smallest, 28.45 by 21.34 millimetres, or 1.12 by 0.84 inches. 



The type specimen. No. 25125 (PL 3, Fig. 14), Ralph collection, from a 

 set of seven eggs, taken near Valley Springs, California, April 13, 1892, repre- 

 sents one of the lighter-colored types found among the eggs of this species. 



139- Cyanocitta cristata (Linn^us). 



BLUE JAY. 



Corvus cristatus Linnaeus, Systema Naturae, ed. 10, I, 1758, 100. 

 Cyanocitta crktata Strickland, Auuals of Natural History, XV, 184.5, 261. 



(B 434, C 234, R 289, C 34!), U 477.) 



Gbographigal range: Eastern North America; north iu tlie Dominion of Canada 

 to about latitude 52°, and casually to latitude 5GO; west to eastern As.siuiboia, eastern 

 North and South Dakota, eastern Nebraska and Kansas, the eastern half of the Indian 

 Territory, and northern Texas; south through the United States, excepting Florida, the 

 Gulf Coast, and southeastern Texas during the breeding season. 



The Blue Jay, one of our best-known birds, is a resident and breeds 

 throughout the greater portion of its range, but is usually only a summer 

 visitor in tlie northern parts of the United States and southern Canada, though 

 even there some are occasionally found in midwinter in suitable localities where 

 beechnuts and acorns, on which tliey principally subsist at such times, are abun- 

 dant. Few of our native birds compare in beauty of plumage and general 

 bearing with the Blue Jay, and while <»ne can not help admiring him on account 

 of his amusing and interesting traits, still even his best friends can not say much 

 in his favor, and though I have never caught one actually in mischief, so many 

 close observers have done so that one can not very well, even if so inclined, 

 disprove the principal charge brought against this handsome freebooter. He is 

 accused of destroying many of the eggs and young of our smaller l)irds, and 

 this is so universally admitted that there can be no doubt of its truth. 



Mr. Henry Nehrling, for instance, in his charming work, gives the Blue 

 Jay one of the worst possible reputations, based not on mere hearsay evidence, 

 but on personal observations, and he is well known as an exceedingly accurate 

 ornitlinlogist.' 



Mr. R. M. Kirby Smith, of Sewanee, Tennessee, writes: "The Blue Jay 

 is very abundant in this vicinity, and does a great deal of harm by eating the 

 eggs of snialler birds, particularly those of" the Chipping Sparrow. I have often 

 caught tluMii in the act of destroying their nests and eggs." 



Mr. J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, writes me on the same subject as fol- 

 lows: "The Ja-s" in this region has become a veritable nuisance. The smaller 

 si^ecies of birds are utterly at its mercy in nesting time, and conipariitively few 



' Die NorJamerikanische Vogelwelt, pp. 493-497. 



