Two Studies in Blue 171 



child feed the younger ones. It was a very pretty bit 

 of bird life to watch these bluebirds. We were anxious 

 to get a photograph of the mother and the young bird 

 helping her. We tried by getting on top of the house and 

 focusing the camera on a wire where the birds often 

 alighted. We finally got one view of the two as the young 

 bird was just in the act of jumping for the worm the 

 mother held. 



THE BLUE JAY FAMILY 



The Jays are one branch of the Corvidse or Crow family, but in con- 

 trast to the crows, the jays are birds of bright and varied colors, gener- 

 ally blue, and often the head is crested. The jay is a well-known char- 

 acter everywhere, but has a bad reputation. He is about twelve inches 

 long and lives on grain, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and often eats the 

 eggs of other birds. 



Blue Jay (Cyanocitta cristata): Male and female, crest and back, 

 light purplish blue; wings and tail, blue barred with black; throat, gray, 

 fading to white on belly; a black collar across lower throat and up sides 

 of head behind crest. Lives throughout eastern United States, where 

 it nests in May and June, making a bulky nest generally hidden in a 

 thick tree. Eggs, four to six, varying from greenish to buff, thickly 

 marked with brown and purplish spots. 



California Jay {Aphelocoma californica): Male and female, upper 

 parts, blue; sides of head, grayish-black, with light stripe over eye; under 

 parts, white, washed with light blue on sides of chest. Nesting habits 

 same as above. Lives on Pacific Coast from Columbia River south. 



THE BLUEBIRD FAMILY 



This family of songsters may be recognized by the rich blue dress. 

 The Bluebird is about seven inches in length. It frequents the woods 

 and waysides and likes to nest in bird-boxes about the dooryard. It is 

 a quiet, gentle-mannered bird and readily becomes semi-domesticated. 



