Species VI. CORVUS CRISTATUS. 
BLUE JAY. 
[Plate I. Fig. 1.] 
Linn, Sijsf. i., p. 106, No. 8, ed. 10. — Garrulus canadensis cceruleus, Briss. ii., p. 
55. — Pica glandaria rristaia, Klein, p. 61, 3. — Le Geai hleu de V Avuriqve Scp- 
tentrionale, Buff, hi., p. 120. PI. Enl. 529. — Blue Jay, Catesb. Car. i., 15. — 
Edw. 239.— Jrrf. Zool. ii.. No. 138.— Lath. Syn. i., p. 386, 20.— Bartram, p. 
290. 
This elegant bird, -whicli, as far as I can learn, is peculiar to North 
America, is distinguished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants 
of our ■woods, by the brilliancy of his dress ; and like most other cox- 
combs, makes himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity, and the 
oddness of his tones and gestures. The Jay measures eleven inches in 
length ; the head is ornamented with a crest of light blue or purple 
feathers, which he can elevate or depress at pleasure ; a narrow line of 
black runs along the frontlet, rising on each side higher than the eye, 
but not passing over it, as Catesby has represented, and as Pennant and 
many others have described it ; back and upper part of the neck a fine 
light purple, in which the blue predominates ; a collar of black proceed- 
ing from the hind-head, passes with a graceful curve down each side of 
the neck, to the upper part of the breast, where it forms a crescent ; 
chin, cheeks, throat and belly, white, the three former slightly tinged 
with blue ; greater wing poverts a rich blue ; exterior sides of the pri- 
maries light blue, those of the secondaries a deep purple, except the 
three feathers next the body, which are of a splendid light blue ; all 
these, except the primaries, are beautifully barred with crescents of 
black, and tipped Avith white ; the interior sides of the wing feathers are 
dusky black ; tail long and cuneiform, composed of twelve feathers of a 
glossy light blue, marked at half inches with transverse curves of black, 
each feather being tipped with white, except the two middle ones, which 
deep'en into a dark purple at the extremities. Breast and sides under 
the wings a dirty white, faintly stained with purple ; inside of the mouth, 
the tongue, bill, legs, and claws, black ; iris of the eye hazel. 
The Blue Jay is an almost universal inhabitant of the woods, fre- 
quenting the thickest settlements, as well as the deepest recesses of the 
forest, where his squalling voice often alarms the deer, to the disap- 
pointment and mortification of the hunter ; one of whom informed me, 
that he made it a point, in summer, to kill every Jay he could meet 
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