aay 
er BLUE JAY. 365 
The nest of the Crow is placed in trees, and built of sticks and twigs 
lined with moss or strips ofbark. The eggs are green, more or less thickly 
spotted and blotched with blackish brown. Variations in ground color 
are sometimes met with, and, more rarely, the spots are wanting. 
Sub-family GARRULINA. Jays. 
Wing, short, rounded, less than the much graduated tail, reaching not much beyond 
the under tail coverts, its tip formed by the 4th-7th quills. 
GENUS CYANURUS. Swainson. 
Head crested ; bill rather slender, somewhat depressed at base. 
CYANURUS cRIsTATUS (L.) Sw. 
Blue Jay. 
oni cristatus, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 162. 
Garrulus cristatus, READ, Fam. Visitor, iii, 1853, 335; Proc. Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi, 
1853, 395. 
Cyanurus cristatus, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 367; Reprint, 1861, 9; Food of 
Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 568; Reprint, 1875, 8.— LANGDON, Cat. Birds 
of Cin., 1877, 10. 
—Cyanura cristata, BAIRD, BREWER, and RipGway, ii, 1874, 276.—LANGDON, Revised List, 
Journ. Cin. Soc. Nat. Hist., i, 1879, 177; Reprint, 11. 
Blue Jay, BALLou, Field and Forest, iii, 1878, 136. i 
Corvus cristatus, LINNAUS, i, 1766, 157. 
Garrulus cristatus, VIEILLOT, Ency. Meth., 890. 
Cyanurus*cristatus, SWAINSON, Fn. Bor.-Am., ti, 1831, 495. * 
Purplish blue, below pale gray, whitening on the throat, belly and crissum; a black 
collar across the lower throat and up the sides of the neck and head, behind the creat, 
and a black frontlet bordered with whitish; wings and tail pure rich blue, with black 
bars, the greater coverts, secondaries, and tail feathers, except the central, broadly 
tipped with pure white; tail much rounded, the graduation over an inch. Length, 11-12; 
wing, 54; tail, 52. 
_ Habitat, Eastern North America; north to 56°; west to Kansas and Dakota. 
Abundant resident. The Blue Jay,or Jay Bird as it, perhaps, is oftenest 
called, is a striking exemplification of the saying, ‘‘ Fine feathers do not 
always make fine birds.” It seems to be a family inheritance to the 
Corvide to possess traits which render them obnoxious to the human 
race. Of our three representatives, the Raven has for ages been a bird 
of evil omen, the Crow the embodiment of mischievous cunning, while 
the Jay can not conceal his meanness with his beautiful plumage, His 
flight is that of a thief who dreads detection on all sides. His voice 
bewrays the meanness of his soul, while his vanity is only equalled by 
his domineering disposition. He possesses, to an eminent degree, the 
power of mimicry, and may frequently be seen heading the mob of 
