Notes on the Birds. 35D 
Tt is certain this species is much more common in these counties now 
than it was 30 to 40 years ago. In all probability it nests in Carroll County, 
but I have never found its nest there. 
Monroe County: I have never seen them in any considerable numbers in 
this county except in winter. On February 10, 1885, and again two days 
later, I found flocks of several hundred in a large meadow northwest of 
Bloomington. The days were cold and stormy and snow covered the ground 
everywhere except in situations such as in this meadow where the wind 
tended to keep the ground more or less bare. The birds were moving about 
in great flocks, alighting on and spreading over the bare spots where they 
searched for food, or, at times. stopping at patches of short weeds upon 
the seeds of which they fed. 
Vigo County: These birds were usually common in winter or late fall 
and a few might be seen even in the summer particularly north of Terre 
Haute on the road to the Five-mile Pond, also south of the city, and in all 
other prairie parts of the county. 
These birds doubtless find the public highways good feeding grounds, 
and the habit is so well marked that in some places they have received 
the yery appropriate name of “roadsters”. I heard this name applied 
to them in Merced County, California, in 1918. 
116. CYANOCITTA CRISTATA CRISTATA (Linneeus). BLUE JAY. (477) 
Of all our native birds the Blue Jay is perhaps the best known per- 
manent resident. Every one knows the Blue Jay. We all enjoy seeing 
him about, albeit, his pert, not to say unmsannerly, ways, somtimes seriously 
tax our patience. And then we often have a suspicion that his presence 
about the house or in the orchard means harm to the eggs or young of 
other birds that enjoy a greater measure of our confidence and respect. 
But at times I have found the blue jays quite useful. When out col- 
lecting, if I heard one or more jays. about a hole in some old tree, using 
a lot of Blue Jay profanity and raising a general hullaballoo, I could 
be sure that there was a screech owl in that same hole. I have secured 
many a fine specimen with the aid of the blue jays in this way. 
I think the Blue Jay is about equally common in all the counties covered 
by this paper. In Carroll County, it is quite common throughout the year. 
It is quite disposed to nest in the fruit trees and other trees about dwell- 
ings. April. 21, 1883, nest with three eggs. On April 4, 1884, a pair ob- 
served building in a shade-tree in Dolph MecKinney’s yard in Camden. 
Others seen nesting on April 10. On my old home farm one or more pairs 
usually nested in one of the cedar or spruce trees in the front yard, and 
for some years at least one nest might be found in an apple tree in the 
orchard. On this farm the jay birds appear to be much less common now 
than formerly. While spending the week of June 25 to July 1, 1905, there 
I saw only one Blue Jay. Noted by Miss Ava Evyermann of Burlington 
October 28, 1907. when several were seen in the woods, and again on 
New Year’s day, 1908, when one was seen in the woods. They were com- 
mon in town all winter. 
Favorite nesting sites for the Blue Jay were in the large hawthorns which 
were common in the edges of the woods and in the more open places along 
the creeks. 
