INCESSORES. 329 



as inoffensive, it is usually unmolested. It takes the liberty, 

 however, to feed with great freedom on the best garden fruits. 

 The MAGPIES, Pica, (Lat. magpie,) and the JAYS, Garrulus, (Lat. 

 chatting, or talkative,) are near relatives of the Crows. The 

 well known BLUE JAY, G. cristatus, (crested,) is capable of living 

 in cold as well as warm climates, and is found in all parts of the 

 United States. It is truly omnivorous, and, in times of scarcity, 

 has been known to feed even on carrion. Though extremely 

 beautiful in its appearance and graceful in its movements, (see 

 Plate X. fig. 4c.) it is a deceitful, and often a very mischievous 

 bird. The NUT-CRACKERS, Nucifraga, (Lat. nux, a nut; frango, 

 to break.) all belong to this family. In their habits, they resem- 

 ble both the Jays and the Woodpeckers, climbing trees and 

 perforating their bark, and devouring all sorts of fruits and 

 insects, as well as small birds. The FRUIT CROWS, Coracina, 

 are a sub-family of South American Birds, about whose proper 

 place there has been some question among naturalists, but which 

 are placed by Swainson with the Corvida. The most remark, 

 able of these are the Capuchin Baldhead, Coracina gymnocephala, 

 (Gr. bald headed,) a bird about as large as the Common Crow, 

 of Spanish-snuff color, or, as some say, capuchin color. Its 

 large beak and ample forehead, bare of feathers, to which the 

 specific name refers, give it a very singular appearance. The 

 Crested Crow, C. cephaloptera, (Gr. head-winged,) is also a sin- 

 gular looking bird, of a uniform blue-black hue, having the 

 head and base of the bill ornamented with a crest, forming a sort 

 of parasol, to shade the face, and reaching to the end of the bill, 

 compressed in the same manner as in the Rupicola, or Cock of 

 the Rock. " The sides of the neck are naked, but long feathers 

 forming a loose pelerine, and hanging down lower than the 

 breast, spring from beneath the throat and from the sides of the 

 neck. This crest and feathers of the pelerine give metallic 

 reflections/' (Lesson.) 



In the family of the Corvida are included the Birds of Para- 

 dise, which some naturalists have, with reason, erected into a 

 separate family, called Paradiseadce, including some of the most 

 singular and magnificent of the feathered tribes. They are 

 natives of New Guinea, to which they are almost confined. Of 

 these birds, splendid as they are, fiction has presented many 

 strange and exaggerated descriptions. For a long time, it was 

 asserted that some of them are without legs ! They considera- 

 bly resemble the Crows in their general structure, and they also 

 approach them in size. In these birds, the wings are long and 

 round, the tail varying in length at the extremity, or else 



