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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



NORTHERN BLJJE JAY (Cyanocitta 

 cristata cristata) 



The blue jay is one of the best-known birds in 

 central and eastern North America. Recently I 

 examined an index covering for fifteen years a 

 publication devoted largely to notes and brief 

 articles by contributors writing of birds which 

 had interested them. Of all the 1,420 kinds of 

 birds that are listed as occurring in North Amer- 

 ica, the blue jay stood fourth among those most 

 frequently mentioned in this magazine. 



One of the most outstanding characteristics of 

 this dashing, handsome bird is its propensity to 

 make a noise. He shrieks singly and in chorus. 

 He shouts at hawks, owls, cats, and snakes, or 

 screams only for the pleasure of hearing himself 

 make a hair-raising din. His shoutings fill the 

 woodlands of southern Canada and of the eastern 

 United States. There is no escape from his cries 

 for any great length of time. Only in the nesting 

 season, when domestic duties and the safety of 

 his eggs and young demand a certain amount of 

 vocal restraint, can he be considered a quiet bird. 



It is an abundant species, but has its natural 

 enemies. Scattered clusters of blue feathers here 

 and there in the woods testify to the success of 

 some hawk or owl in the capture of one of his 

 tormentors. Sometimes these feathers appear 

 later among the nesting material used by birds 

 whose eggs and young the blue jay has been 

 known to eat. 



Blue jays are devoted to their nests and young 

 and show unusual boldness in defending them. 

 Sometimes one will sit on the nest until actually 

 touched by the hand of the intruder. With its 

 mate it will make a great outcry and will often 

 come within a few feet of the person who has 

 violated the sanctity of its nesting place. 



After the young have left the nest and acquired 

 strength in flight, the family groups forage about 

 the country with great excitement and vocifera- 

 tion. Two or three families will often unite and 

 in scattering flocks go trooping along from one 

 grove to another, crossing, a few at a time, the 

 open, intervening areas. As autumn approaches, 

 they may move for many miles in quest of more 

 ample supplies of beechnuts or acorns. Some of 

 them stay throughout the winter in the North, but 

 many travel long distances and pass the colder 

 months in the more southern States. 



FLORIDA BLUE JAY (C. c. florincola). 

 This jay is a little smaller, the white tips of the 

 feathers are more narrow, and the back is 

 slightly grayer than that of the northern blue jay. 

 It is found in the South Atlantic and Gulf States 

 from the coast of North Carolina to northern 

 Florida and westward to Louisiana. 



SEMPLE'S BLUE JAY (C. c. semplei). 

 This bird was described to science in 1928 from 

 specimens taken at Coconut Grove, Florida. Its 

 range is central and southern Florida. 



STELLER'S JAY (Cyanocitta stelleri) 



Principally in the mountains, but also at times 

 at lower elevations over the vast sweep of coun- 

 try from Alaska to Central America, the bril- 

 liant, long-crested, blue-bodied jay is found. 

 Scientists know it in different places by separate 



names, but to the casual observer little, if any, 

 difference in habits, form, or color can be de- 

 tected wherever seen. 



Maj. Allan Brooks here beautifully figures the 

 Steller's jay, one of the six of this group to be 

 mentioned. It inhabits the Pacific coast country, 

 from the Alaska Peninsula southward to the 

 State of Washington, including Vancouver and 

 most of the other coastal islands. It is usually 

 resident throughout the year, wherever it is 

 found. 



Often the nests are built in firs, saplings being 

 preferred to the larger, taller trees. Nests 60 

 feet from the ground have been found, but this 

 is unusual. Often they are not more than 5 or 

 10 feet from the earth. In their construction, 

 twigs are used for the foundation and the outer 

 supports. 



Into the basket thus constructed, 8 or 10 inches 

 across, is sunk a deep cup, lined generally with 

 grass or moss. Then the hollow is well plastered 

 with mud, and this in turn is lined with rootlets 

 or pine needles. Now and then the hair of deer 

 or cattle is used to make a soft bed for the three 

 to five spotted eggs which are to come. The eggs 

 are about one and a quarter inches long and the 

 greenish-blue ground pattern is sprinkled with 

 dots and spots of brown and lavender. Incuba- 

 tion requires 16 days. 



Steller's jay is common in many localities and 

 is well known to the inhabitants of the country. 

 Singly or in small groups, it comes to the back 

 yard searching for something to eat. Such visits 

 may be looked for especially in winter, when 

 snow covers its food provided for by the forest. 

 It eats insects, vegetables, nuts, eggs, and young 

 birds. At times it robs the California wood- 

 pecker and its kin of their store of acorns. 



In addition to Steller's jay, other varieties of 

 this group of jays, very similar to it, but possess- 

 ing sufficiently small differences to justify orni- 

 thologists in accrediting them with subspecific 

 status, are the following, found in North Amer- 

 ica north of Mexico : 



QUEEN CHARLOTTE JAY (C. s. car- 

 lottae). This bird inhabits the Queen Charlotte 

 Islands, British Columbia. 



COAST JAY (C.s. carbonacea). Its range 

 is along the Pacific coast of Oregon to the Santa 

 Lucia Mountains of California and certain small 

 areas to the eastward. 



BLUE-FRONTED JAY (C. s. frontalis). 

 It inhabits the high and the medium elevations of 

 the Sierra Nevada, from Mount Shasta south- 

 ward to San Diego County, California ; also, it 

 is found on various inner coastal ranges of that 

 State. 



BLACK-HEADED JAY (C. s. annec- 

 tens). Its home is in boreal and transition areas 

 of the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia 

 south to eastern Oregon, Idaho, and Wyoming. 

 It has been known to wander to Utah and Ne- 

 braska. 



LONG-CRESTED JAY (C. s. diade- 

 mata). Here, also, is a jay of the moderate and 

 of the high altitudes. It is found in the Rocky 

 Mountains from Utah and Wyoming southward 

 into the States of Sonora, Zacatecas, Jalisco, and 

 Nayarit, Mexico. 



