SONG-BIRDS. Blue Jay 



of the first signs of autumn, and they drop and settle in the 

 lane and by the pool as if to warn the leaves that they 

 must soon follow. 



FAMILY CORVID^E: CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES. 



Sub-family Garrulinje : Jays. 



Blue Jay: Cyanocitta cristata. 



Plate 40. 

 Length: 11-12 inches. 

 Male and Female : Lead-blue above, head finely crested, a black collar 



uniting with some black feathers on the back. Below grayish 



white. Wing coverts and tail a bright blue barred transversely 



with black. 

 Song : A whistling bell note in the breeding season, the usual cry a 



screaming "Jay, jay, jay I " 

 Season : Resident. 

 Breeds : Through range. 

 Nest : Bulky, in appearance like that of the Crow, but only one-quarter 



the size. 

 Eggs: 5-6, about an inch long and broad for the length, brownish 



gray, with brown spots. 

 Mange : Eastern North America to the Plains, and from the Fur 



Countries south to Florida and eastern Texas. 



When you see Jays in small flocks circling the trees in 

 early spring and gathering their crop of chestnuts in the 

 fall and acorns in early winter, you admire their brilliant 

 colouring, jaunty crest and bold flight, merely wishing per- 

 haps that their cry was less harsh. 



But how do these birds amuse themselves in the period 

 between April and September, in their breeding and moult- 

 ing season, when they are comparatively inconspicuous, for 

 they go into the woods to breed and become almost silent, 

 — it is a case of still waters running deeply ? Day by day 

 they sally out of their nesting-places to market for them- 

 selves and for their young, and nothing will do for them but 

 fresh eggs and tender squabs from the nests of the Song- 

 birds ; to be followed later by berries, small fruit, and grain. 

 There are birds that have all the domestic virtues coupled 

 n 177 



