The California Jays 



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miles, as the effective range of Aphelocoma 

 calijornica. 15,598 square miles is 9,982, 

 720 acres ; and if we allow a range of twenty 

 acres for each pair of jays, we have a total 

 population of 499,136 pairs. If we allow 

 only one set of eggs or nest of birds to each 

 pair of jays per diem for a period of two 

 months, we shall be well within the mark 

 of actuality. Yet that will give us in a 

 season a total destruction of 29,948,160 

 nests, or, say, 100,000,000 eggs — in Cali- 

 fornia alone! 



Yet in the face of this destruction, 

 which, somehow Nature does manage to 

 cope with, there are those, over-zealous 

 souls misusing the name of Audubon, who 

 are disposed to grumble at the infinitesi- 

 mal toll levied annually in the name of 

 Science. Why, if every holder of a scien- 

 tific permit in California — there are 

 about two hundred of us — were to kill a 

 single pair of blue jays each season, the 

 total account with nature would be more 

 than squared. If two pairs apiece were 

 killed, we should be benefactors. 



But how, you ask, does Nature stand 

 this terrific strain? Well, there is no 

 denying that it is terrific. Yet Nature 

 is wonderfully fertile. We who idolize 

 the birds are apt to forget that the "breed- 

 ing cycle" is, after all, no such sacred or 

 significant thing as is the rearing of a 

 human family. The breasts of Nature 

 are ample, and the sorrows of her children 

 are short-lived. To offset this annual loss 

 caused by the jays, other birds have to 

 nest twice, or three times in a season, 

 that's all. Doubtless if the jays and all 

 other destructive agencies were gradually 

 removed, a single nesting per season might 

 it is doubtful whether the sum of avian 

 happiness would be thereby increased. Viewed dispassionately, there- 



Taken at Los Colibris Photo by the A ullior 



INQUISITIVE 



CALIFORNIA JAY IN PEPPER TREE 



come to suffice. But at that 



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