4 
BLUE JAY. 
The blue jay builds a large nest, frequently in the cedar, 
sometimes on an apple tree, lines it with dry fibrous roots, 
and lays five eggs of a dull olive, spotted with brown. The 
male is particularly careful of not being heard near the place, 
making his visits as silently and secretly as possible. His 
favourite food is chestnuts, acorns, and Indian corn. He 
occasionally feeds on bugs and caterpillars, and sometimes 
pays a plundering visit to the orchard, cherry rows, and potato 
patch ; and has been known, in times of scarcity, to venture 
into the barn, through openings between the weather boards. 
In these cases he is extremely active and silent, and, if sur- 
prised in the fact, makes his escape with precipitation, but 
without noise, as if conscious of his criminality. 
that though it was on a Sunday, we could hardly be persuaded that the person 
who kept it, had not a carpenter at work in the house. Another, at the approach 
of cattle, had learned to hound a cur dog upon them, by whistling and calling 
upon him by his name. At last, during a severe frost, the dog was, by that 
means, excited to attack a cow big with calf, when the poor animal fell on the 
ice, and was much hurt : the jay was complained of as a nuisance ; and its 
owner was obliged to destroy it.” They feed indiscriminately, and, according 
to circumstances, on either animal or vegetable substances ; plundering nests 
of* their eggs and young, and even, in the more exposed farm-yards, disap- 
pointing the hopes of the mistress, in the destruction of a favourite brood. 
They are also robbers of orchards and gardens of their finest fruits ; but, 
when without the reach of these luxuries, they will be content to satisfy their 
hunger with Nature’s own productions, the wild berries, or fruits and seeds 
of the forest and the field. 
Several new species have been added to the North American list, some 
of which are described by the Prince of Musignano in our third volume; 
and, in addition, we may mention one new species, published by Dr Richardson i 
and Mr Swainson, in the Arctic Zoology. The only specimen brought home, 
was killed on the roof of the dwelling-house at Fort Franklin, and was so 
similar to the Canada jay, that it was not then recognized as a distinct species. 
The chief distinctions mentioned in the above work, are the shorter bill, 
broader at the base, and narrower on the ridge. The plumage looser than in 
G. canadensis ; the secondaries proportionally longer, and all end in slender, 
but very distinct points, scarcely discernible in the blue jay, and not nearly 
so much developed in the Whisky-jack. Tail is shorter than the latter, the 
tarsus is more robust. — Ed. 
