BLUE J A V. 9 



following each other in straggling irregularity from one range 

 of woods to another. Yet we are told by the learned Dr 

 Latham — and his statement has been copied into many 

 respectable European publications — that the blue jays of 

 North America "often unite into flocks of twenty thousand 

 at least ! which, alighting on a field of ten or twelve acres, 

 soon lay waste the whole." * If this were really so, these 

 birds would justly deserve the character he gives them, of 

 being the most destructive species in America. But I will 

 venture the assertion, that the tribe Oriolus phoeniceus, or 

 red-winged blackbirds, in the environs of the river Delaware 

 alone, devour and destroy more Indian-corn than the whole 

 blue jays of North America. As to their assembling in such 

 immense multitudes, it may be sufficient to observe, that a 

 flock of blue jays of twenty thousand would be as extra- 

 ordinary an appearance in America, as the same number of 

 magpies or cuckoos would be in Britain. 



It has been frequently said, that numbers of birds are 

 common to the United States and Europe ; at present, how- 

 ever, I am not certain of many. Comparing the best descrip- 

 tions and delineations of the European ones with those of our 

 native birds said to be of the same species, either the former 

 are very erroneous, or the difference of plumage and habits in 

 the latter justifies us in considering a great proportion of them 

 to be really distinct species. Be this, however, as it may, the 

 blue jay appears to belong exclusively to North America. I 

 cannot find it mentioned by any writer or traveller among the 

 birds of Guiana, Brazil, or any other part of South America. 

 It is equally unknown in Africa. In Europe, and even in the 

 eastern parts of Asia, it is never seen in its wild state. To 

 ascertain the exact limits of its native regions would be 

 difficult. These, it is highly probable, will be found to be 

 bounded by the extremities of the temperate zone. Dr Latham 

 has indeed asserted, that the blue jay of America is not found 



* Synopsis of Birds, vol. i. p. 387. See also Encyclopaedia Britan- 

 nica, art. Corvus. 



