CHAPTER IV. 



January 15 January 21. 



THE BLUE JAY. 



Order Passeres Suborder Oscines. 



Family Corvidse Subfamily Garrulinse 



Genus Cyanocitta Species Cyanocitta cristata 



Length 11.00 to 12.50; wing, 5.00 to 5.70; tail, 5.05 to 5.70. 



Permanent Resident. 



* 



"The Jaybird he's my favorite 



Of all the birds there is! 

 I think he's quite a stylish sight 



In that blue suit of his; 

 And when he lights and shuts his wings, 



His coat's a cutaway 

 I guess it's only when he sings, 



You'd know he was a jay." 



The subfamily Garrulinae, is composed of the magpies and 

 jays. The magpie of this country is found west of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Alexander Wilson in his American Ornithology 

 says that in 1804, the exploring party under the command Of 

 Lewis and Clarke on their route to the Pacific Ocean across 

 the continent first met the magpie somewhere near the head of 

 the Missouri, and found that the number increased as they 

 advanced. Here also the blue jay disappeared; as if the 

 territorial boundaries and jurisdiction of these two noisy and 

 voracious families of the same tribe had been mutually agreed 

 upon and settled. Major Bendire in his Life Histories of 

 North American Birds describes thirty-one species and sub- 



23 



