BLUE JAY. 365 



The nest of the Crow is placed in trees, and huilt of sticks and twigs 

 lined with moss or strips of bark. The eggs are green, more or less thickly 

 spotted and blotched with blackish brown. Variations in ground color 

 are sometimes met with, and, more rarely, the spots are wanting. 



Subfamily GARRULINjE. Jaya. 



Wing, short, rounded, less than the much graduated tail, reaching not much beyond 

 the under tail coverts, its tip formed by the 4th-7th quills. 



Genus CYANURUS. Swainsot. 

 Head crested ; bill rather slender, somewhat depressed at base. 



CyANURUS CRISTATU3 (L.) Sw. 



^Blue Jay. 



Corvus cristatus, Kirtland, Ohio Geolog. Saiv., 1838, 16d. 



Garrulus cristatua, Ebad, Pam. Visitor, iii, 1853, 335; Proo. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 



1853; 395. 

 CyanuruB cristatus, Whbaton, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 367 ; Reprint, 1861, 9 ; Pood of 



Birds, etc., Ohio Agrio. Rep. for 1374, 568; Reprint, 1875, 8. — Langdon, Cat. Birds 



of Cin., 1877, 10. 

 Cyanura arisiata, Baird, Bkbwbr, and Ridgway, ii, 1874, 276. — Langdon, Revised List, 



Journ. Cin. Soo. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 177 ; Reprint, 11. 

 Blue Jay, Ballou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. 



Corvus cristatus, Linn^^ehs, i, 1766, 157. 

 Garrulus cristatus, Vieillot, Ency. Meth., 890. 

 Cyanurus cristatus, Swainson, Pn. Bor.-Am., ii, 1831, 495. 



Purplish blue, below pale gray, whitening on the throat, belly and crisanm; a black 

 collar across the lower throat and up the sides of the neck and head, behind the crest, 

 and a black frontlet bordered with whitish; wings and tail pare rich blue, with black 

 bars, the greater coverts, seoond-irios, and tail feathers, except the central, broadly 

 tipped with pure white ; tail much rounded, the graduation over an inch. Length, 11-12 ; 

 wing, 5i; tail, 5i. 



Habitat, Eastern North America ; north to 56° ; west to Kansas and Dakota, 



Abundant resident. The Blue Jay, or Jay Bird as it, perhaps, is oftenest 

 called, is a striking exemplification of the saying, "Fine feathers do not 

 always make fine birds." It seems to be a family inheritance to the 

 Corvidas to possess traits which render them obnoxious to the human 

 race. Of our three representatives, the Raven has for ages been a bird 

 of evil omen, the Crow the embodiment of mischievous cunning, while 

 the Jay can not conceal his meanness with his beautiful plumage. His 

 flight is that of a thief who dreads detection on all sides. His voice 

 bewrays the meanness of his soul, while his vanity is only equalled by 

 his domineering disposition. He possesses, to an eminent degree, the 

 power of mimicry, and may frequently be seen heading the mob of 



