i^lS.J THE FLORIDA JAY. S^" 



front, and line over the eyes^ pale azure; lores^ cheeks^ 

 and crown ivitli some black intermixe'd ; throat paler 

 than the abdooien^ and faintly streaked with ash ; tiie 

 blue from the cheeks passes down along the breast^ 

 forming an obscure crescent ; inner webs of the remi- 

 ges dusky ; the tail is m\'irly six inches Ion g^ compos- 

 ed of twelve feathers^ the upper feather darkest, part 

 of the inner vanes of the under feathers dusky 5 

 length eleven inches and three quarters, breadth four- 

 teen inches and a half. Male and female much alike- 



When we first entered East Florida, which was in 

 the beginning of February, we saw none of these- 

 birds ; and the first that we noticed w ere in the vici- 

 nity of St. Augustine, on the thirteenth of the above- 

 mentioned month. We afterwards observed them 

 daily, in the thickets, near the mouth of the St. Juan. 

 Hence we conjectuf-ed that the species is partially mi- 

 gratory. Their voice is not so agreeable as is that of 

 ihe G. cristatus or Crested Blue Jay of the United 

 States ; they are quarrelsome, active, and noisy ; and 

 construct their negts in thickets. Their eggs I have- 

 not seen. 



The Blue Jay, which is so conspicuous an ornament 



to the groves and forests of the United States, is also 

 common in Florida. This beautiful and sprightly 

 ])ird we observed daily, in company w ith the Mocking* 

 biixl, and the Cardinal Grosl)eak, around the rude ha- 

 bitations of the disheartened inhabitants, as if willing 

 to console them amid tlrose privations which the fre- 



Ujuent Indian wars, and the various revolutions, which 

 their Province has experienced, have compelled them 



* to bear. 



