THE BLUE JAY. 
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variety of the most exquisite tints in their plumage. . 
A prevailing color of the whole group is blue, of dif- 
ferent shades, from a light azure or ultamarine, to a 
deep, dull indigo. In the United States we number 
about eleven species. In the north and east we have 
the Blue Jay and the Canada Jay; in the south, the 
Florida Jay; and in the west and north-west, the 
Ultamarine Jay, Steller’s Jay, Prince Maximilian’s 
Jay, Mexican Jay, and Beechy’s Jay, the two latter 
being mostly confined to Texas and California. 
Nearly all our country boys are familiar with the 
Blue Jay, with his high, peaked crest, his black 
whiskers, and his broad wings and tail so beautifully 
banded with blue, black, and white. His bold, 
sprightly bearing, his malicious and deceitful habits, 
his sly and cunning disposition, and his great fond- 
ness for tasting the eggs which other birds have laid, 
are facts in his history w r ell known to most. His 
