ALEXANDER WILSON. 43 



spicuous by his loquacity, and the oddness of his 

 tones and gestures. The jay measures eleven inches 

 in length ; the head is ornamented with a crest of 

 light blue or purple feathers, which he can elevate 

 or depress at pleasure ; a narrow line of black runs 

 along the frontlet, rising on each side higher than 

 the eye, but not passing over it, as Catesby has re- 

 presented, and as Pennant and many others have 

 described it ; back and upper part of the neck, a 

 fine light purple, in which the blue predominates ; 

 a collar of black, proceeding from the hind head, 

 passes with a graceful curve down each side of the 

 neck to the upper part of the breast, where it forms 

 a crescent; chin, cheeks, throat, and belly, white, 

 the three former slightly tinged with blue ; greater 

 wing- co verts, a rich blue ; exterior sides of the pri- 

 maries, light blue, those of the secondaries, a deep 

 purple, except the three feathers next the body, 

 which are of a splendid light blue ; all these, except 

 the primaries, are beautifully barred with crescents 

 of black, and tipt with white ; the interior sides of 

 the wing-feathers are dusky black ; tail long and 

 cuneiform, composed of twelve feathers of a glossy 

 light blue, marked at half inches with transverse 

 curves of black, each feather being tipt with white^ 

 except the two middle ones, which deepen into a 

 dark purple at the extremities. Breast and sides 

 under the wings, a dirty white, faintly stained with 

 purple ; inside of the mouth, the tongue, bill, legs, 

 and claws, black ; iris of the eye, hazel. 



" The blue jay is an almost universal inhabitant 



