114 
THE BLUE JAY. 
corn cribs, where many are caught by the cat and the sons of the farmer. 
Their movements on the wing are exceedingly graceful, and as they pass 
from one tree to another, their expanded wings and tail, exhibiting all the 
beauty of their graceful form and lovely tints, never fail to delight the 
observer. 
Although this species proceeds up the Missouri river to the eastern 
declivities of the Rocky Mountains, it is not found on the Columbia. Dr. 
Richardson says that it “ visits the Fur Countries, in summer, up to the 
56th parallel, but seldom approaches the shores of Hudson’s Bay.” He is, 
however, mistaken when he says that“ it frequents the Southern States only 
in winter for it is found there at all seasons, and breeds in every district 
of them, as well as in the Texas, where I found it, although it was rare. The 
eggs measure an inch and half an eighth in length, and seven-eighths in breadth. 
Blue Jay, Corvus cristatus, Wils. Amer. 
Orn., vol. i. p. 2. 
Corvus cristatus, Bonap. Syn., p. 58. 
Carrulus cristatus, Blue Jay , Swains. 
and Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 293. 
Blue Jay. Corvus cristatus , Aud. Orn. 
Biog., vol. ii. p. 11 ; vol. v. p. 475. 
Feathers of the head elongated, 
oblong ; tail much rounded. Upper 
parts light purplish-blue ; wings and 
tail ultramarine, secondaries, their 
coverts, and tail-feathers barred with 
black, and tipped with white ; a nar- 
row hand margining the forehead, 
loral space, and a band round the 
neck, black ; throat and cheeks bluish- 
white ; lower parts greyish-white, 
tinged with brown. 
Male, 12, 14. 
Breeds from Texas eastward and 
northward to the Fur Countries, and 
as far as the bases of the Rocky 
Mountains. Abundant. Resident in 
the Middle, Interior, and Southern 
States. 
The roof of the mouth is rather 
flat, anteriorly with three ridges ; 
the lower mandible moderately con- 
