32 THE BIEDS OF NEW JERSEY. 



teen and twenty feet from the ground. The eggs are 

 from four to six in number, of an ashy green with browi 

 spots, and one and one-fifth by four-fifths of an inch La 

 size. 



The birds breed ^ throughout the eastern part of the 

 United States. They gather in large flocks in August, 

 September and October, and at the approach of cold 

 weather the majority go south, although considerable 

 numbers remain here, especially in the southern part of 

 the state. 



The cry of the bird is Jay, jay, jay. 



This bird has been frequently charged with being very 

 destructive to other birds and to grain, but a government 

 examination of 280 stomachs, collected at all times of the 

 year, showed that in only three were there birds' eggs 

 and in only two birds; seventeen per cent, of the food 

 was corn and twenty-two per cent, insects — grasshoppers 

 and caterpillars predominating in the latter. Observa- 

 tion has shown that the bird prefers acorns, chestnuts, 

 hazelnuts and beechnuts to corn, and that it does not 

 take the latter unless impelled to do so by a scarcity of 

 other food. It is an inveterate enemy of large beetles and 

 makes existence miserable for the owls. 



MBlue Peter. See Coot. 



Bobolink, Reed JSird,, Rice Bird, or Rice Bunt- 

 ing. — Length, seven and a half inches; bill, half an inch; 

 extent, eleven and a half inches. In the spring the color- 

 ing of the male is as follows: Head, black and cream; 

 back, black, seamed with brownish yellow, the lower part 

 grayish white; breast, beUy and sides, black; tail, black; 

 wings, black; legs, brownish flesh; feet, black. In the 

 month of August this plumage is entirely moulted and a 

 new dress donned, which is buff, like that of the female, 

 with the back streaked with brownish black; whole lower 

 parts, duU yellow. The black dress is acquired by an- 



