3206 STELLERS FAY. 
nimbly by hopping, and are constantly in motion while on the 
ground. Their flight is, moreover, neither protracted nor ele- 
vated, but merely from tree to tree, and from branch to branch, 
shooting straight forward at once when wishing to go any 
distance, now and then flapping their wings, and hovering as 
they descend, when abont to alight. It is quite the reverse 
with the crows; and all these characters are of the greatest 
importance in the establishment of natural groups. 
While the true Corvi, by their stout and almost hooked 
bill, and the carnivorous habits of some species, exhibit on the 
one hand the gradual passage from the vultures, and on the 
other, by the slender-billed species, the transition to the crow, 
blackbirds, and troopials; the affinities of the jays present nice 
gradations to the genera already dismembered from Corvus, 
such as Nucifraga, Pyrrhocorax, Bombycilla, and at the same 
time form other links with Zandus, and even with Zurdus and 
Acridotheres. 
There is one remarkable analogy of the jays which we can- 
not pass over in silence. It is, however, singular, and hitherto 
unsuspected, with the titmouse (Parus). Form, habits, even 
the peculiar looseness of texture of the plumage, all are 
similar in these genera, hitherto estimated so widely different. 
This resemblance extends even to colour in some species: it 
might even be asked, what else, in fact, is the Canada jay 
than a large titmouse ; and what the crested titmouse but a 
small jay? The blue colour of the typical jays predominates, 
moreover, in other Part; and the P. caudatus of Kurope has 
also the long, cuneiform tail of some, no less than P. bicolor 
their crest. 
The genus Garrulus has an extensive geographical range, 
being found in all latitudes and longitudes. It is composed 
of about thirty species, nearly half of which may more properly 
be called jays : of the latter, there are but two in Europe ; and 
though we have doubled the number given by Wilson, we 
think that others will yet be discovered in the wild western 
tracts of this continent. There exist imperfect accounts of 
