WILSON’S 
AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 
BLUE JAY.—CORVUS CRISTATUS.—Fie. 1. 
Linn. Syst. i. p. 157, 158. — Garrulus Canadensis coeruleus, Briss. ii. p. 54,2 t. 4. 
fig. 2. — Pica glandaria cristata, Klein, p. 61, 3.— Le geay bleu du Canada, Buff. 
iil. p. 120. Pl. end. 529. — Blue Jay, Catesh. Car. i,15.— Edu. 239.— Arct. Zool. 
ii. No. 38.— Lath. Syn. i. p. 386, 20.—Bartrlm, p.290.— Peale’s Museum,’ 
No. 1290. i” 
GARRULUS CRISTATUS.— Vizi.ior. 
Garrulus ctistatus, Vieill. Gal. des Ois. pl. 102.— North. Zool. ii. p. 293. — Bonap. 
Synop. No. 63.— Pica cristata, Wugl, No. 8. 
Turs elegant bird, which, as far as J can learn, is peculiar to North 
America, is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered ten- 
ants of our woods, by the brilliancy of his dress; and, like most other 
coxcombs, makes himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity, and 
the oddness of his tones and gestures. The Jay measures eleven inches 
in length; the head is ornamented with a crest of light blue or purple 
feathers,which he can elevate or depress at pleasure; a narrow, line of 
black runs along the frontlet, rising on each side higher than the eye, 
but not passing over it, as Catesby has represented, and as Pennant 
and many others have described it; back and upper part of the neck 
a fine light purple, in which the blue predominates; a collar of black, 
proceeding from the hind head, passes with a graceful curve down 
each side of the neck to the upper part of the breast, where it forms 
a crescent; chin, cheeks, throat, and belly, white, the three former 
slightly tinged with blue; greater wing-coverts, a rich blue; exterior 
sides of the primaries, light blue, those of the secondaries, a deep pur- 
ple, except the three feathers next the body,which are of a splendid light 
blue; all these, except, the primaries, are beautifully barred with 
crescents of black, and tipped with white; the interior sides of. the 
wing-feathers are dusky black; tail long and cuneiform, composed 
of twelve feathers of a glossy light blue, marked at half inches with 
transverse curves of black, each feather being tipped with white, 
except the two middle ones, which deepen into a dark purple at the 
extremities ; breast and sides under the wings, a dirty white, faintly 
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