60 
FLORIDA JAY. 
proceeded from a laudable desire of excluding nominal species, 
evinced throughout, we should refrain from censure; but when, 
on the contrary, we find in the same work such repeated instances 
of an inconsiderate multiplication of species, they cannot be too 
severely condemned. 
Vieillot, in the case of this bird, has fallen into the contrary, 
and much more common error, of making two species out of it; 
one from personal observation, and the other by compilation. 
This mistake has already been corrected by Mr. Ord, in a 
valuable paper which he drew up on his return from Florida, 
where he enjoyed the advantage of studying this species in its 
native haunts. 
“When we first entered East Florida,” says Mr. Ord, “which 
was in the beginning of February, we saw none of these birds; 
and the first that we noticed were in the vicinity of St. Augustine, 
on the thirteenth of the above mentioned month. We afterwards 
observed them daily in the thickets near the mouth of the 
St. Juan. Hence we conjectured that the species is partially 
migratory. Their voice is not so agreeable as that of the 
Garrulus cristatus, or Crested Blue Jay of the United States; 
they are quarrelsome, active, and noisy; and construct their 
nests in thickets. Their eggs I have not seen.” “The Blue Jay, 
which is so conspicuous an ornament to the groves and forests of 
the United States, is also common in Florida. This beautiful and 
sprightly bird we observed daily, in company with the Mocking¬ 
bird and the Cardinal Grosbeak, around the rude habitations of 
the disheartened inhabitants, as if willing to console them amid 
those privations which the frequent Indian wars, and the various 
revolutions which their province has experienced, have compelled 
them to bear.” The Florida Jay, however, is a resident in that 
country, or only removes from section to section. It is not 
confined to Florida, where it was first noticed by Bartram, being 
