4° 



The Hawkeye Ornithologist and Oologist. 



For the ILimkeye 0. and 0. 

 NOTES ON SOME OF THE PASS- 

 ERES OF FULTON CO., KY. 



SECOND PAPER, BY L. O. PINDAR, 

 PRES. Y. O. A., HICKMAN, KY. 



The family we are to treat of in 

 this paper is known as the Corvidtx, 

 which name is derived from the Lat- 

 in earvus, a raven. It includes the 

 magpies, jays, and crows. . The mag- 

 pies are not re presented in Kentucky, 

 so we will begin with the bluejay, 

 Ci/anoeitta cristata. 



The "jaybird," as he is popularly 

 called, is larger than either of the 

 species treated of in the first paper, 

 being about a foot long and having 

 an extent of 1(5 or 17 inches. The 

 colors are striking; blue above, of a 

 purplish hue fading to a greyish pur- 

 ple, below; the throat, belly and 

 crissum, nearly' white. The wings 

 and tail are of a deeper blue and 

 crossed by numerous black bars. 

 All the tail feathers except the two 

 central ones and the wing coverts 

 and secondaries are broadly tipped 

 with pure white. The female may 

 be distinguished by more subdued 

 colors and smaller size. 



The negroes in the south, that is 

 most of them, believe that the blue- 

 jay is compelled to serve the devil 

 one day in every week. However 

 this may be, his satanic majesty 

 could not have found a bird to suit 

 him better, for the jay is a veritable 

 rowdy; stealing corn and fruit, suck- 

 ing eggs, killing nestlings, and even 

 full grown birds of the smaller species. 

 Fighting, quarrelling, screaming, he 

 goes through life a veritable Ishmael- 

 ite. 



The next bird on the list occuring 

 in Ky. is the celebrated raven, but 

 it is extremely rare. I saw one flying- 



down the Mississippi river near Hick- 

 man, Oct. 3, 1887. I had no gun 

 with me and wouldn't have used it 

 if I had had one, for there was a 

 sublime majesty about this sombre 

 bird as he battled with wind, keeping 

 steadily on, swerving neither to 

 right or left, with outspread pinions 

 and ruffled plumage which would 

 have disarmed me. 



His near relative the crow, Corvus 

 americanus, is very common here, al- 

 though we have no large "roosts" 

 such as are found in the pine woods 

 of New Jersey. The plumage of the 

 crow is simple, being entirely dead 

 black, except for a metallic burnish- 

 ing on the back, wings and tail. It 

 is from 18 to 19 inches in length as a 

 rule, though I have seen crows which 

 1 think would measure over twenty 

 inches. 



Every now and then we see a 

 newspaper paragraph about a "talk- 

 ing crow" and I would like to ask my 

 readers if they have ever seen a "talk- 

 ing crow." 



The eggs of the bluejay and crow 

 taken around Hickman, much resem- 

 ble each other — a green ground color 

 with blotches of lila" and purplish- 

 brown. Very few sets of jays, eggs 

 show the "drab ground color with 

 brown spots," described by Dr. 

 Coues. 



I close this paper with best wishes 

 for its publishers' success and that of 

 every ornithologist who collects for 

 the interest of science and not for the 

 purpose of having a "large collec- 

 tion." 



N. B. — An error crept into my last 

 paper unnoticed till this moment. 



I have set down the kingbird as 

 "not so common as the next species," 

 viz., Traill's flycatcher. The king- 

 bird is much more common. The 

 Traill's was much rarer in 1887 than 

 1886, why, I know not. I hope for an 

 increase of this species in 1888. 



