CORVID.e -THE CROWS AND JAYS. 39o 



of Norfh American Birds," Vol. II. page 272, to which the reader is 

 referred for furthur information. 



Cyanocitta cristata (Liim.) 



BLUE JAY. 



Corvus cristahis Linn. S. N. ed. 10,1,1758.106; ed. 12,i.l7GG,157.— Wils. Am. Orn. i, 1808,11, 



pi. l.flg. 1.— NuTT. Man. i, 1832, 22-1.— AuD. Orn. Biog:. ii, 1834, 11, v, 1839, 475, pi. 102. 

 Garrulus cristatus Tieill. 1S17.— Sw. & lUcH.r.B.-A. ii, 1831, 293.— Add. B. Am. iv,1842, 



110. pi. 2.'?1. 

 Cyanurus cristatus '&^rRT>,'&. N. Am. 1858, 580; Cat. N.Am. B. 1859, No. 434.— CouES, Key, 



1872,165; Cheek List, 1874, No. 234; B. N. W. 1S74, 204.— B. B. & B. Hist N. Am. B. ii. 



271.373,pl. 42,flg. 2. 

 Cyanocitta cristatus Stbickl. Am. Nat. Hist. 1845, 261.— Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881. 



No. 289.— CoUES, 2d Clieelc List, 1882, No. 319. 



Hab. Whole of eastern Nortli America, north to 56° in the interior, west to tlie border 

 of the Great Plains; resident and breeding throughout. 



"Sp. Chae. Crest about one third longer than the bill. Tail much graduated. Gen- 

 eral color above light purplish blue; -wings and tail-feathers ultramarine blue; the second- 

 aries and tertials, the greater wing-coverts, and the exposed surface of the tail, sharply 

 blended with black and broadly tipped with white, except on the central tail-feathers. 

 Beneath white; tinged with purplish blue on the throat, and with bluish brown on the 

 .sides. A black crescent on the fore part of the breast, the horns passing forward and 

 connecting with a halt-color on the back of the nock. A narrow frontal line and loral 

 region black; feathers on the base of the bill blue, like the crown. Female rather duller 

 in color, and a Uttle smaller. Length. 12.2'.; wing, 5.65; tail, 5.75." [Hist. X. Am. B.) 



Few of our birds are more numerous, and none, certainly, are 

 better known than the Blue Jay. With us he has none of the shy- 

 ness which characterizes him in the more eastern States, but makes 

 liimself at home in the door-yards and orchards, building his nest 

 in the apple trees, in shade trees along the streets, or even among 

 the vines trained up the sides of houses ; and, with greater or less 

 regularity, especially in winter, obtains a not inconsiderable portion 

 of his or her daily food from the immediate vicinity of the kitchen 

 door. 



At Olney, Richland County, a Blue Jay's nest was, in the spring 

 oi 1865, found inside an old unused barn in the middle of the 

 town, placed on a sill against the weatherboarding, in the upper part 

 of the building. 



