THE BLUE JAY AND ITS FOOD. 205 
cultivated cherries or grapes were found. Strawberries were found in 
three stomachs, currants in seven, blackberries in twenty-two, and 
mulberries in five. This certainly does not show great depredations 
upon fruit, even supposing that all the fruit was cultivated; but it is 
probable, especially in the case of blackberries, that much of it was 
wild. 
Other vegetable substances were not eaten extensively, but appear 
to have been taken merely in default of something better. Itis worthy 
of notice that the sumac seeds eaten are those of the harmless staghorn 
(Rhus hirta) and smooth sumac (Rhus glabra). Jays do not eat the 
seeds of poison ivy (Rhus radicans) or poison sumac (Rhus vernix), and 
in this respect differ greatly from the crow, the crow blackbird, and 
some of the woodpeckers. These last, and probably many other birds, 
feed largely upon sumac seeds during the winter, and thereby help to 
disseminate these disagreeable and harmful shrubs. It seems a 
little singular that a bird so fond of hard seeds as the jay should not 
avail itself of this food, which ts always accessible in the colder 
months, but it is fortunate that it does not eat the seeds of the poison- 
ous species. Remains of galls which grow on oak leaves were found 
in twelve stomachs, and possibly were eaten for the sake of the larve 
which they contained. Fragments of mushrooms were identified in 
seven stomachs, mostly taken in April and October. 
“EXPERIMENTS ON A BLUE JAY IN CAPTIVITY. 
The examination of stomach contents was supplemented by experi- 
ments on a bird which had been in captivity but a few months and 
had no acquired tastes. In eating, this jay held its food on the perch 
usually with the right foot, but sometimes with both feet, and pro- 
ceeded to tear it to pieces and devour it; hard substances, like kernels 
of corn and acorns, were repeatedly hammered with the beak after the 
manner of a woodpecker. It would eat dead mice to a certain extent, 
_but did not appear to be extravagantly fond of them; it seldom or 
never ate a whole one, and seemed to prefer the brains to any other 
part. A live mouse was placed in the cage, but remained unmolested 
for two days. The jay was kept supplied with mocking-bird food, of 
which it ate freely,so that it was not hungry, and therefore selected 
only such other food as was appetizing. It ate most insects and pre- 
ferred them to vegetable food. Its preferences were not strongly 
marked, although grasshoppers seemed to be the favorite insects, and 
black crickets were refused. Among beetles, Scarabzeids were rather 
preferred to Carabids or Tenebrionids, but all were eaten. Chrysome- 
lids were generally rejected, and the potato beetle (Doryphora 10- 
lineata) was always refused; the same was true of the elm leaf-beetle 
(Galerucella luteola), but one 12-spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica 
12-punctata) was eaten. Click beetles (Elaterids and Tenebrionids) 
were apparently preferred to the long-horn beetles (Cerambycids). 
