Crows and Jays. 



Order, Passeres. 

 Family, Corvidae. 



Family Characteristics: The crows are black, the jays largely 

 blue. Harsh voices. Mischievous and intelligent birds of large size. 

 They will eat meat, grain or anything else. They are of no great 

 economic value, but as a part of the landscape they could hardly be 

 spared. 



488. AMERICAN CROW. Corvus Americanus. Seventeen inches 

 long. Black all over with violet gloss. Nests in tall forest trees. A 

 social bird. Can be identified by his cry, "Caw!" "Caw!" Very in- 

 telligent. 



477. BLUE JAY. Cyanocitta cristata. Eleven inches long. Blue 

 above. Black collar. Wings and tail blue with white stripes. Breast 

 dull white. Bill black. Has a crest. A brilliant bird but mischievous. 



484. CANADA JAY. (Camp Robber.) Perisoreus canadensis. 

 Twelve inches long. Gray above and beneath. Darker tints on wings 

 and tail. Dull black on back of head and neck. Lighter gray on 

 breast. Throat and neck white. Very sociable and even bold. 



475. MAGPIE. Pica pica hudsonica. Nineteen inches long. Tail 

 long for a bird of its size. Black except wings and breast which have 

 much white. Common along parts of Missouri River and Black Hills. 

 Very intelligent and mischievous. Bill black. Nest very large and 

 contains almost anything. Eats almost anything. It is said to be 

 unlucky if you see only one. 



4 86a. NORTHERN RAVEN. Corvus Gorax principalis. Two feet 

 long. Resembles the common crow. Not common though seen occa- 

 sionally along the Missouri River. Color a blue-black. Nests on cliffs 

 and places hard to reach. Most birds of this family have greenish 

 eggs heavily blotched. Eats refuse. 



AMERICAN CROW. 



Although the crow is a bird of conspicuous plumage, of bad re- 

 pute and has had a price set upon his head by many bountiful 

 states, he seems to increase rapidly and to thrive everywhere. He 

 does so entirely because he has the shrewdness so generally char- 

 acteristic of birds of the black feather. 



