BLUE JAY. 



Cyanocitta cristata. 



Char. Above, purplish blue ; below, pale purplish gray, lighter on 

 throat and tail-coverts ; wings and tail bright blue barred with black ; wing- 

 coverts, secondaries, and most of tail-feathers broadly tipped with white. 

 Head conspicuously crested ; tail wedge-shaped. Length ii to I2j^ inches. 



Nest. In a small conifer, about 20 feet from the ground, situated in 

 deep forest or near a settlement ; roughly but firmly constructed of twigs 

 and roots, and lined with fine roots. 



Eggs. 4-5; pale olive or buff, spotted with yellowish brown; i.io 

 X 0.85. 



This elegant and common species is met with in the interior, 

 from the remote northvi^estern regions near Peace River, in the 

 54th to the 56th degree, Lake Winnipeg in the 49th degree, 

 the eastern steppes of the Rocky Mountains, and southwest- 

 ward to the banks of the Arkansas ; also along the Atlantic 

 regions from the confines of Newfoundland to the peninsula of 

 Florida and the shores of the Gulf of Mexico. 



