THE COLUMBIA JAY. 
287 
the twigs and the foliage around, and meeting in its 
path the patriarch of the forest, lays him prostrate on 
the ground. For years the massy trunk lies extended 
on the earth ; but it is seen gradually giving way. The 
summer’s sun and the winter’s frost crumble it into 
dust, which goes to augment the soil. And thus has 
it finished its course. 
“ Look again at the egg of the bird, dropped on its 
curious bed, the construction of which has cost the 
parent bird many labours and anxieties. It also is a 
seed, but it gives rise to a very different object. Fos- 
tered by the warmth imparted by the parent bird, the 
germ which it contains swells into life, and, at length 
bursting its fragile enclosure, comes tottering into 
existence. To sustain the life and contribute to the 
development of this helpless being, the mother issues 
in quest of food, which she carefully places in its open 
throat. Day after day it acquires new development 
under the fostering care of its nurse, until at length, 
invested with all the powers which nature intended to 
bestow upon it, it spreads its pinions to the breeze, and 
sallies forth to perform the many offices for which it is 
destined. 
“ How often have I watched over the little bird in its 
nest, and marked the changes which day after day it 
exhibited ; the unfolding of its first scanty covering of 
down, the sprouting of its plumelets, the general enlarge- 
ment of all its parts ! With what pleasure have I 
viewed the development of its colouring and the early 
manifestations of its future habits ! ” 
14 . CORVUS BULLOCKII, AUDUBON. 
GARRULUS ULTRAMARINUS OF BONAP. THE COLUMBIA JAY. 
AUDUBON, PLATE XC'VI. 
The general colour of this new species of crow is 
bright blue, with purple reflections ; the foreneck and 
anterior part of the breast, black ; the rest of the under 
parts, white; length, thirty-one inches; across the 
