64 Bird Studies. 



and the nest. This was frequently changed in pursuance of my idea. 

 Three of the nestlings soon lost all use of their legs and feet, which became 

 bent and deformed, and the birds died in about a week, except one stronger 

 than the rest, who though arrested in physical development yet managed to 

 survive. This result I attribute to the inability of the young ones to 

 properly exercise their feet and legs on the smooth unnatural surface pro- 

 vided for them, and subsequent experience with Jays, Chats, and other 

 young birds has confirmed this opinion. It seems that one of the offices per- 

 formed by the nest lining is to afford grasping material on which very young 

 birds begin, almost at birth, to exercise their feet, by opening and closing the 

 toes, so as to perch and walk with them later. This applies to Woodpeckers, 

 Owls, and other birds breeding in holes, as well as to perching birds proper, 

 the coarse chips, rotten sawdust, and the rough character of the bottoms of 

 nests in hollows serving the end pointed out. 



The Blue Jay is pictured so many times in connection with the story of 

 the growth of these birds, that with a final picture of an adult bird, only a 

 word as to color and size seems demanded. Adult birds are nearly a foot in 

 length. The prevailing color above is of blue of varying shades, and below 

 is white. The birds have conspicuous blue crests, the forehead is black. 

 There is a black band across the breast, reaching up on the sides of the neck 

 and joining on the back of the head. The blue wings and tail have some of 

 their feathers barred with black and tipped with clear white. 



The Blue Jay is found throughout Eastern North America, south to 

 Florida and Eastern Texas and north to the Fur Countries. It is some- 

 what local in its distribution, and is generally resident. It varies greatly in 

 its habits as regards its association with man. At points, as in the cases 

 cited, this is a common bird in large towns, breeding in trees close to houses, 

 and apparently the least shy of birds. Again, in other localities it seems to 

 avoid the vicinity of houses, and retires to the solitude of the woods. The 

 eggs are pale brown or buffy olive, sprinkled all over with minute spots of a 

 darker shade. They are about an inch and a tenth long and nearly nine 

 tenth of an inch broad. 



This is the local Southern race of Blue Jays resident in Florida and the 



_, . . _, Gulf Coast region of Texas. Smaller than our Jay, the 



Florida Blue Jay. . . ?. f 



yanocittacristataflorincoia colors are similar but grayer and more purple or laven- 

 der in tone. The white markings on both wings and tail 



