THE AMERICAN BLUE JAY. 281 



young family, and stripping the branches of the bark and finest fruit. The kitchen garden 

 also suffers severely from the attacks of the Jay, which has a great liking for young peas and 

 beans. It also eats chestnuts, nuts, and acorns, being so fond of the last-mentioned fruit as to 

 have received the title of "glandarius," meaning a lover of acorns. Sometimes it becomes 

 more refined in its taste, and eats the flowers of several cruciferous plants, which, according to 

 Mudie, it plucks slowly and carefully, petal by petal. 



The nest of the Jay is a flattish kind of edifice, constructed of sticks, grass, and roots, 

 the sticks acting as the foundations, and a rude superstructure of the softer substances being 

 placed upon them. It is always situated at a considerable elevation from the ground. There 

 are generally four or five eggs, and the bird mostly brings up two broods in the year. During 

 the earlier portion of their existence the young birds accompany their parents, and as they 

 wander in concert, often do great damage among the gardens and orchards which they visit. 



One mode of taking the Jay has already been mentioned. Fowlers, however, employ 

 several methods for the capture of this pretty bird, and find that they can catch Jays better by 

 working on their curiosity than on their appetite. None of the crow tribe seem to be able 

 to pass an owl without dashing at it ; and the bird-catchers take advantage of this propensity 

 by laying their snares in the branches of a thick bush, and fastening a common barn owl in 

 such a manner, that when the Jay makes its attack, it is arrested and secured by the snare. 

 Should an owl not be attainable, a white ferret will answer the purpose equally well, the Jay 

 having a great objection to all the weasel tribe, and invariably attacking ferret, polecat, stoat, 

 or weasel with the greatest virulence and perseverance. 



In size, the Jay equals a rather large pigeon ; and the coloring of its plumage is very 

 attractive. The general tint of the upper part of the body is light reddish-brown, with a per- 

 ceptible purple tinge, varying in intensity in different specimens. The primary wing-coverts 

 are bright azure, banded with jetty black, and form a most conspicuous ornament on the sides, 

 as the bird sits with closed wings. The head is decorated with a crest, which can be raised or 

 lowered at pleasure, and the feathers of which it is composed are whitish-gray, spotted with 

 black. There is a black streak on each side of the chin, and the quill-feathers of the wings 

 and tail are also black. The eye is a bright blue-gray, which, when the bird is excited, 

 can gleam with fiery rage, and together with the rapidly moved crest and harsh screams gives 

 an angry Jay a very savage aspect. 



IN many points, our AMERICAN BLUE JAY (Gyanocitta cristata) closely resembles its 

 European relative, but as it possesses a decided individuality of its own, it is well worthy of a 

 short memoir. 



The Blue Jay seems to be peculiar to Northern America, and may be found among the 

 woods, where it is very plentiful, but never seems to associate in great numbers, the largest 

 flocks amounting merely to some thirty or forty members, and these only being seen during a 

 small portion of the year. Like the European Jay, it is both inquisitive and suspicious, and 

 never fails to give the alarm as soon as it sees a sportsman among the trees. Many a deer has 

 been lost to the anxious hunter through the warning cry of the Jay, for the deer understand 

 bird language quite well enough to know what is meant when a Jay sets up its loud dissonant 

 scream, and many a Jay falls a victim to the bullet that had been intended for the heart of the 

 escaped deer. Indeed, some hunters have taken so rooted a dislike to this bird, that they 

 always shoot it whenever they see it. 



The voice is adapted for imitation, and there is hardly a bird of the forest whose voice is 

 not mocked by the Jay with a fidelity that even deceives the species whose notes are thus 

 wonderfully reproduced. Being a bird of some humor, it is greatly delighted by mimicking- 

 the scream of a hawk, and the terrified cry of a little bird in distress, thereby setting all 

 the small birds in a turmoil, under the impression that one of their number has just been 

 carried off by a hawk. 



The Blue Jay attacks owls whenever he meets with them, and never can see a hawk 

 without giving the alarm, and rushing to the attack, backed up by other Jays, who never fail 



to offer their assistance to their comrade. Often they will assemble in some numbers, and 

 VOL. 



