318 CORVID^E : CROWS AND JAYS. 



latest list (Bull. Essex Inst., x, 1878, p. 33), with 

 good reason as well as with caution, speaks of the 

 bird as " probably rare or accidental " in Massachu- 

 setts, and adds that the captures of specimens at West 

 Point, N. Y., and on Long Island, "render it almost 

 certain that stragglers will soon be taken here." Opin- 

 ion aside, the fact remains that the Fish Crow is a 

 bird of the Carolinian Fauna, hence finding its normal 

 northern extension in the valley of the lower Connecti- 

 cut, and occasionally straggling into Massachusetts. 

 (See Zerga, Bull. Nutt. Club, v, 1880, p. 205, and 

 Pur die, ibid., p. 240.) 



BLUE JAY. 

 CYANOCITTA CRISTATA (Z.) StrickL 



Chars. Head conspicuously crested. Bill and feet black. Above, 

 purplish-blue ; below, pale purplish -gray, bleaching on the throat, 

 belly, and lower tail-coverts, with a black collar across the throat, 

 running up behind the crest ; forehead black, with whitish border; 

 wings and tail bright blue, varied with black ; the greater wing- 

 coverts, the secondaries, and most of the tail-feathers, broadly 

 tipped with white. Length, 11.50-12.00; extent, 16.50-17.50; 

 wing, 5.00-5.50 ; tail, about the same. 



The Jay is a very questionable character, whose 

 entire lack of moral dignity and high principle is 

 attested by a life of insincerity, dishonesty, and profli- 

 gacy, and whose errors are far from condoned by his 

 fine personal presence. But the rascal has assurance, 

 which is a great social lever, and so continues to hold 

 his own, even in New England, where he is perfectly 

 well known, and where it would seem the bad luck of 

 being found out is not an absolutely unpardonable sin. 



