Some Common Birds Useful to the Farmer. 19 
Various kinds of cultivated fruits are also eaten, and local damage to such 
crops as apples, melons, peas, beans, peanuts, and almonds is occasionally re- 
ported. In long, rigorous winters, the crow. like other birds, resorts to the 
fruit of numerous wild plants, as dogwood, sour gum, hackberry, smilax, and the 
several species of sumac and poison ivy. 
Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful 
housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain to a 
large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. It will be well also to keep the 
crow within reasonable numbers on game preserves and public parks where it 
is desired to encourage the nesting of smaller birds. While legal protection is 
not needed for so wary an individual as the crow, it seems well, where local 
conditions have not aggravated some particular shortcomings of the bird, to 
allow it to continue the good services rendered to man in the destruction of 
noxious insects. 
BLUE JAY. 
The blue jay “ (fig. 17) is a conspicuous member of our bird population east 
of the Plains, especially in autumn when his brilliant plumage contrasts vividly 
with the brown: foliage. Even in winter he stays with us, though at this time 
he is less common along our northern border. In spring and summer, while by 
no means uncommon, the blue jay is not so often noticed, as the retiring disposi- 
tion which he assumes during the breeding season assists in protecting him 
from enemies. This also allows him to carry on with considerable impunity 
that inglorious practice of nest rob- 
bing of which, in a measure, he has 
been rightfully accused. 
Examination of 580 stomachs col- 
lected at all times of the year in 30 
of our Eastern States and Canada 
shows .that. insects comprise about 
22 per cent of the yearly sustenance. 
About three-fourths of these are in- vy 
jurious, the remainder being neutral - “AAs 
or beneficial. Of the injurious in- #43 
sects, grasshoppers form the largest 
portion; in August nearly a fifth of 
the food. Caterpillars are conspicu- ; 
ous in July and August and at this Fic. 17.—Blue jay. 
ting average about a tenth of the inch 
stomach contents. Both laboratory ‘ . . 
investigations and field observations have established the fact that ee pees 
eggs of the tent caterpillar and the hibernating larve of the ea ies al ee 
New England are eagerly sought. Scarabzeid beetles sony a iC : Of the 
the yearly food, and click beetles and wire-worms about 1 per scl part 
beneficial forms, ground beetles (3 per cent) and Us aan ieee a few other 
of which are parasitic (2.5 per cent), are taken m Ost tee aes are eaten 
invertebrates, as spiders, millepeds, mollusks, and crustaceans, a's 
throughout the year. tay we. ar ronted 
In the cotinideration of the vertebrate food of ee ee a pa baa 
with the problem of the destruction of wild birds terial in the stomachs, 
i *h ma 
search was made for every possible trace of such © : 
and in 6 of the 530 were fond the remains of wild bir ds or their eggs. D 
2 aaa i 7 P ed a 
February two jays had killed a small bird apiece; 1m May one had robb 
i i a a clutch of eggs, respec- 
nest of eggs; in June two had taken a small bird ie ae 
tively; and in August another had robbed a nest. : “ait t Wipala 
peak to Be mat prenounced during its own breeding Sone a eee m ae 
for many birds which have suffered from its boldness eur us Bite eae 
another brood unmolested. Thirty-nine of the 530 jay aa Lean gee 
on hen’s eggs. Much of this food, however, was picked o a gut pe ayuile 
to which the jay, like other members of the crow Ge he se atu 
the result of stomach analysis would appear to ae nt Seat a 
jay, it is doubtless quite characteristic of the bird un a io yn ie 
Complaint that the jay is the source of neuer ae Fy Rualeces 
fall has been verified to a certain degree by stomach e> 
Length, about 11% 
nches. 
48 Cyanocitta cristata. 
