350 CROWS AND JAYS 



49. FAMILY CORVID^B. CROWS, JAYS, ETC. (Fig. 61.) 



The Corvidce are represented in all parts of the world except New 

 Zealand. They number about two hundred species, of which twenty-one 

 are found in North America. Our Crows and Jays inhabit wooded 

 regions, and are resident throughout the year, except at the northern 

 limits of their range. They are omnivorous feeders, taking fruits, seeds, 

 insects, eggs, nestlings, and refuse. 



Crows and Jays exhibit marked traits of character and are possessed 

 of unusual intelligence. Some systematists place them at the top of the 

 avian tree, and, if their mental development be taken into consideration, 

 they have undoubted claims to this high rank. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES 



A. Plumage black. 



a. Wing about 15*00; bill over 2*50 486a. RAVEN. 



b. Wing about 13*00; bill about 2*00. 488. CROW. 488a. FLORIDA CROW. 



c. Wing about ll'OO; bill about 1'50 490. FISH CROW. 



B. Plumage bluish or grayish. 



a. Back blue; tail tipped with white; a black breast-patch. 



477. BLUE JAY. 477a. FLORIDA BLUE JAY. 



b. Back bluish gray; tail not tipped with white; throat and breast indis- 



tinctly streaked with whitish 479. FLORIDA JAY. 



c. Back gray; back of head and nape blackish; forehead whitish. 



484. CANADA JAY. 484c. LABRADOR JAY. 



477. Cyanocitta cristata cristata (Linn.}. BLUE JAY. (Fig. 61a.) 

 Ads. Upperparts grayish blue; underparts dusky whitish, whiter on the 

 throat and belly; forehead, and a band passing across the back of the head 

 down the sides of the neck and across the breast, black; head crested; ex- 

 posed surface of wings blue, the greater wing-coverts and secondaries barred 

 with black, and all but the middle pair broadly tipped with white, this white 

 tip rarely less than TOO in width on the outer feather. L., 11*74; W., 5*14; 

 T., 5*19; B., 1-04. 



Range. E. N. Am., breeding from cen. Alberta, s. Keewatin, Que., 

 N. B., N. S., and N. F. s. to the Gulf States, except Fla., and w. to w. Nebr., 

 e. Colo., and cen. Tex.; casual in N. M., migratory in the n. part of its range. 



Washington, rather rare P. R., common T. V., Apl. 28-May 15; Sept. 

 15-Oct. 15. Ossining, tolerably common P. R. Cambridge, common P. R., 

 abundant T. V., Apl. and May; Sept. and Oct. N. Ohio, common P. R. 

 Glen Ellyn, common P. R. SE. Minn., common P. R. 



Nest, of twigs, compactly interwoven, lined with rootlets generally in a 

 tree crotch 10-20 feet up. Eggs, 4-6, pale olive-green or brownish ashy, 

 rather thickly marked with distinct or obscure spots of varying shades of 

 cinnamon-brown, 1*10 x '85. Date, Charleston, S. C., Apl. 25; Cambridge, 

 Apl. 28; se. Minn., May 2. 



The Blue Jay, I fear, is a reprobate, but, nothwithstanding his fond- 

 ness for eggs and nestlings, and his evident joy in worrying other birds, 

 there is a dashing, reckless air about him which makes us pardon his 

 faults and like him in spite of ourselves. Like many men, he needs the 

 inspiration of congenial company to bring out the social side of his dis- 

 position. Household duties may perhaps absorb him, but certain it is 

 that when at home he is very different from the noisy fellow who, with 

 equally noisy comrades, roams the woods in the fall. How his jay, jay 



