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ITS ECONOMIC RELATIONS. 



Mr. F. E. L. Beal, Biologist, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, has recently prepared and published a 

 very interesting and valuable paper relative to "The 

 Blue Jay and its Food." This paper, based on about 

 300 examinations of "stomachs collected in every 

 month of the year from 22 States, the District of 

 Columbia and Canada," places the Jay in a most 

 favorable light. 



MR. REAL'S SUMMARY OF ITS FOOD. 



"The most striking- point in the study of the food of the Blue 

 Jay is the discrepancy between the testimony of field observers 

 concerning- the bird's nest-robbing proclivities and the results 

 of stomach examinations. The accusations of eating eggs and 

 young- birds are certainly not sustained, and it is futile to at- 

 tempt to reconcile the conflicting statements on this point, -which 

 must be left until more accurate observations have been 

 made. Most of the predaceous beetles which it eats do not 

 feed on other insects to any great extent. On the other hand, 

 it destroys some grasshoppers and caterpillars and many, 

 noxious beetles, such as SCARABAEIDS, click beetles 

 rELATERIDS), weevils (CTJRCULIONTDS), BUFRESTTDS, 

 CHRYSOMELIDS, and TENEBRIONIDS. 



The Blue Jay obtains its fruit from nature's orchard and 

 vineyard, not from man's; corn is the only vegetable food 

 for which the farmer suffers any loss and here the damage 

 is small. In fact, the examination of nearly 300 stomachs 

 shows that the Blue Jay does far more good than harm." 



WHAT AUDUBON LEARNED. 



The field observations of Audubon, made many 

 years ago, prompted this great naturalist and truthful 

 authority, to write in no complimentary words of the 

 manner in which Jays delight to kill birds and pillage 

 the nests of pigeons and domesticated fowls. 



