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OFMCIAL ORCjtAN OF THE WISCONSIN AND ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETIE 
S 
One Year 25 Cent s 
Single Copy 3 Cent^ 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society, at, AppIeLon Wisconsin. 
Entere d as seco nd class matter M ay 16, 1904 at Appleto n, Wis., under the act of congress of Mar. 3, ’79 
VOL. VII 
JANUARY, 1905 
No. 7 
Photograph by Mrs. H. H. Bennett. 
THE BLUE JAY. 
The most striking point in the study of the 
food of the blue jay is the discrepancy between 
the testimony of field observers concerning the 
bird’s nest-robbing proclivities and the re¬ 
sults of stomach examinations. The accusa¬ 
tions of eating eggs and young birds are cer¬ 
tainly not sustained, and it is futile to at¬ 
tempt to reconcile the conflicting statements 
on this point, which must be left until more 
accurate observations have been made. In de¬ 
stroying insects the jay undoubtedly does much 
good. Most of the perdaceous beetles which it 
eats do not feed on other insects to anv great 
extent. On the other hand, it destroys some 
grasshoppers £nd caterpillars and many noxi¬ 
ous beetles. The blue jay gathers its fruit 
from nature’s orchard and vineyard, not from 
man’s; corn is the only vegetable food for 
which the farmer suffers any loss, and here the 
damage is small. In fact, the examination of 
neai ly oOO stomachs shows that the blue jay 
certainly does far more good than harm. 
E. L. Beal, in Yearbook of Dept, of Agri¬ 
culture for 1890. 
OUR AQUARIUM. 
It was made last summer, during the long 
vacation by the big brother, who first studied 
the subject of tanks in the Boys’ Handy Book 
ami he Scientific American. It is of rather 
unusual proportions, being 20 inches long by 
21% wide and 7% high, and it cost a little over 
four dollars, the plate glass being the most ex¬ 
pensive item. After the cementing was done 
came the proud moment when it was pro¬ 
nounced water-tight, and then followed many 
pleasant excursions for big brother, little 
brothers and other members of the family. 
Sand and stones were brought from the shore 
of Lake Michigan, cray-fish and minnows from 
flie little streams around Wauwatosa, plants 
from above the Cement Works on the river, 
and a tiny mud-turtle came from Pine Lake to 
join the happy family. The installation of 
these things was an absorbing and delightful 
occupation and the Head of the Family became 
so much interested in caring for the little for¬ 
est of water plants that one day when a lady 
asked him how his garden (meaning the out- 
of-doors garden) was getting along, he startled 
her by replying: “Oh, it is growing splendidly, 
but every now and then a fish comes along and 
bites off one of my trees!” As a matter of 
fact we found that the cray-fish were great 
sinners in this respect, making so much trouble 
that in spite of their comical appearance and 
funny ways we soon took them all out. 
