BLUE JAY. 15 



the woods resound far and near. While migrating, they seldom fly to 

 any great distance at a time without alighting, for Uke true rangers they 

 ransack and minutely inspect every portion of the woods, the fields, the 

 orchards, and even the gardens of the farmers and planters. Always ex- 

 ceedingly garrulous, they may easily be followed to any distance, and the 

 more they are chased the more noisy do they become, unless a hawk happen 

 to pass suddenly near them, when they are instantly struck dumb, and, as 

 if ever conscious of deserving punishment, either remain motionless for a 

 while, or sneak off silently into the closest thickets, where they remain 

 concealed as long as their dangerous enemy is near. 



During the winter months they collect in large numbers about the plan- 

 tations of the Southern States, approach the houses and barns, attend the 

 feeding of the poultry, as well as of the cattle and horses in their separate 

 pens, in company with the Cardinal Grosbeak, the Towhe Bunting, the 

 Cow Bunting, the Starlings and Grakles, pick up every grain of loose 

 com they can find, search amid the droppings of horses along the roads, 

 and enter the corn cribs, where many are caught by the cat and the sons 

 of the farmer. Their movements on the wing are exceedingly graceful, 

 and as they pass from one tree to another, their expanded wings and tail, 

 exhibiting all the beauty of their graceful form and lovely tints, never 

 fail to delight the observer. 



CoKVUS CRisTATUS, Linn. Syst. Nat. voL i. p. 157. Lath. Synops. vol. i. p. 386. 



Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 58. 

 Garrulus CRISTATUS, Swaifis. and Riclmrds. Fauna Boreali-Americ. part ii. p. 293. 

 Blue Jay, Corvus cristatus, Wils. Amer. Ornith. voL i. p. 2. pi. i. fig. 1 



Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 224. 



Adult Male. Plate CII. Fig. 1. 



Bill short, strong, straight, compressed, acute ; upper mandible with 

 the dorsal outline slightly arched, the sides sloping, the edges sharp and 

 overlapping, the tip shghtly declinate ; lower mandible with the back 

 narrow, the sides sloping. Nostrils basal, open, covered by the reversed 

 bristly feathers. Head rather large, neck short, body robust. Feet of 

 ordinary length ; tarsus about the same length as the middle toe, ante- 

 riorly scutellate, compressed, acute behind ; toes free, scutellate, the inner 

 shorter than the outer ; claws arched, compressed, acute. 



Plumage soft, blended, glossy. A tuft of reflected, adpressed, bristly 

 feathers over the nostril on each side. Feathers of the head elongated, 



