86 
The Blue Jay 
In size and form this species is much like the European jay, but its 
dress is very different. The body is soft grayish blue, with a purplish 
tinge on the mantle in some lights, and fading to nearly white on the 
thighs and abdomen. Wings and tail are bright blue, strikingly barred 
with black, and the wings have two conspicuous 
^ ^ a ”^ s< ^ me P^ches of white, while the banded tail, whose length 
is almost half that of the whole bird, is edged toward 
the end with white, visible when the quills are fanned out. 
The head, with its strong bill and dark eyes, is set off by an azure 
crest that may be stiffly erected ; and from behind it a necklace of 
black falls gracefully across the breast, enclosing throat and cheeks of 
silvery white. Truly a handsome bird, which carries itself, erect and 
firmly balanced, as if it knew perfectly well the princely elegance of its 
presence. Even its steady, straightforward flight expresses this, and the 
way it swings to its perch is a model of showy self-assurance. The 
sexes are indistinguishable in plumage or in behavior. 
Wilson, indeed, styles the bird a beau among the feathered tenants 
of our woods ; and remarks that 'dike most other coxcombs,” he makes 
himself still more conspicuous by his loquacity. 
"In the charming season of spring,” Wilson writes, "when every 
thicket pours forth harmony, the part performed by the Jay always 
catches the ear. He appears to be, among his fellow-musicians, what the 
trumpeter is in a band, some of his notes having no distant resemblance 
to the tones of that instrument. These he has the faculty of changing 
through a great variety of modulations, according to the particular humor 
he happens to be in. When disposed for ridicule, there is scarce a bird 
whose peculiarities of song he cannot tune his notes to. When engaged 
in the blandishments of love they resemble the soft chatterings of a duck ; 
and, while he nestles among the thick branches of the cedar, are scarce 
heard at a few paces distance ; but no sooner does he discover your ap- 
proach than he sets up a sudden and vehement outcry, flying off, and 
screaming with all his might, as if he called the whole feathered tribes 
of the neighborhood to witness some outrageous usage he had received.” 
Thus gayly the Blue Jay ushers in the season of mating and nest- 
building, but presently he is less noticed along the highway and about the 
farm-house, for he soon ceases his noisy chatter, and with his mate seeks 
the seclusion of woodlands or of remote orchards. 
Nest He shows a partiality toward evergreens, especially 
the juniper or red cedar, whose close and bristling 
twigs protect his nest from both observation and sudden raids, as by 
night-flying owls. The situation is usually not far from the ground. 
The structure itself is a rough but strongly woven mass of twigs lined 
with finer, more flexible materials, mostly rootlets. The four to six rather 
roundish eggs, which are laid at a relatively late date in the season, as a 
rule, are greenish or brownish buff, rather sparsely spotted with olive- 
brown ; they measure about i.io by .80 of an inch. 
I have at hand a minute study of the brooding of the Blue Jay, made 
