he multiplies so rapidly that in many localities steps should be taken to check his becoming 

 too numerous, or many of the very beneficial small birds will become exceedingly rare. 

 In gardens, parks, and orchards the Blue Jay is decidedly out of place and should never 

 be tolerated. In many parts of the West this bird is almost as tame, but more sagacious 

 and sly and much more dangerous than the European Sparrow. A few pairs in the 

 woods are a great ornament, but they should nowhere be allowed to become abundant. 

 Disagreable as it is to witness the extermination of any feathered creature, I should not 

 hesitate to sign a death-warrant of every Blue Jay roaming about near human dwellings, 

 in parks and orchards. 



When pursued these birds become very shy and wary, shunning, as much as possible, 

 man's society. This is especially the case in many localities in the East, where nowhere 

 this robber has been allowed to become very abundant. No other bird annoys the 

 hunter more than the Blue Jay, as he seems to give the alarm to all dwellers of the 

 woods that their foe is approaching. 



The Blue Jay is one of the best cage birds, especially when reared from the nest. 

 He becomes very tame and reconciled to confinement, learns to imitate the human voice 

 and easily learns to whistle whole songs or parts of such. Bird fanciers almost all agree 

 in the statement that the "Blue Jay is more ingenious, cunning, and teachable than any 

 other species." 



The geographical distribution of this Jay extends over all eastern North America, 

 west to the Plains, and from the fur countries south to Florida and eastern Texas. 



A variety, the Florida Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata Horincola CouES, is found 

 in Florida and the Gulf coast of south-eastern Texas. It does not differ in its habits 

 from the common species. 



NAMES: Blub Jay, Jay, Jay Bird, Rain Jay, Rain-bird. — Blauhaher (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Corvus cristatus Linn. (1758). Garrulas cristatas Vieill. (1824). Cyanura cristata 

 Swains. (1831). Cyanocorax cristatus Bonap. (1838). CYANOCITTA CRISTATA Strickl. (1845). 



DESCRIPTION: Sexes almost alike. "Crest about one-third longer than the bill. Tail, much graduated. 

 General color above, light purplish-blue; wings and tail-feathers, ultramarine-blue; the secondaries 

 and tertials, the greater wing-coverts, and the exposed surface of the tail, sharply banded with black 

 and broadly tipped with white, except on the central tail-feathers. Beneath, white; tinged with 

 purplish-blue on the throat, and with bluish-brown on the sides. A black crescent on the forepart of 

 the breast, the horns passing forward and connecting with a half-collar on the back of the neck. A 

 narrow frontal line and loral region, black; feathers on the base of the bill, blue, like the crown." 

 Length, 12.25 inches; wing, 5.65; tail, 5.75 inches. (B. B. & R.) 



STELLER'S JAY. 



Cyanocitta steUeri Cabanis. 



Steller's Jay and its varieties inhabit particularly the mountain regions of the 

 West. They are all similar to each other and are the same cunning, bold, and noisy 

 fellows as their eastern cousin, the Blue Jay. 



Steller's Jay inhabits the Pacific coast of North America, from Sitka south through 

 the Cascade and Coast Range to Monterey Bay, Cal. 



41 



