WINTER RESIDENTS AND VISITORS
Horned Lark American or Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill Pine Grosbeak [B]Pine Siskin [B]Redpoll Tree Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Shrike [A]Myrtle Warbler Winter Wren Brown Creeper Snowflake Junco Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet
[A]A few in winter.
[B]Rare or irregular in winter.
Grebes, Loons, Auks, Cormorants, Snowy Owls, and several species of Gulls and Ducks may also be found during the winter months in the vicinity of New York City.
DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES
THE BLUE JAY
Crow Family—Corvidæ
Length: About 11½ inches; 1½ inch longer than the robin; tail, over 5 inches long.
General Appearance: A crested grayish-blue bird, with bright blue wings and tail, barred and tipped with black and white. In flight, the long tail is conspicuous; it resembles a pointed fan.
Male and Female: Grayish-blue above, grayish-white below, lighter on throat and belly. Head with a conspicuous crest; forehead black; bill long, strong, and black. A black band that extends back of the crest and encircles the throat is widest across the breast. Wings bright blue, barred with black; the white tips of some of the feathers form bands and patches of white.
Note: A harsh yăh, yăh, yăh, or jay, jay, jay, which Thoreau says is “a true winter sound, wholly without sentiment.”[3]
Song: A pleasant, flute-like strain: Pedunkle, pedunkle, parlez-vous. There is a sort of jerkiness about his love-song, as though his throat was unaccustomed to make agreeable sounds. Jays are able to produce many strange noises, and appear to enjoy using their power.
Habitat: Woodlands; those containing oaks and other nut-bearing trees preferred.
Nest: A rough basket of twigs, with a soft lining of root-fibers.
Range: Eastern North America. A permanent resident of south-central Canada and eastern United States, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and central Texas.
BLUE JAY
This brilliant, handsome blue-coat never “hides his light under a bushel”; his noisy jay-jay always proclaims his presence. He would at times be unendurable, except that he never remains long in one place; he is on the leap constantly, with a dash and an impudent assurance that is amusing.
He is the “bad boy” of the bird neighborhood, the terror of the small birds. They seem to have the same fear of him that children have of a great bully. He swoops down upon them, worries and frightens them, robs their nests, and brings to his own spoiled fledglings eggs and young as tidbits.
He is a devoted husband and father, who shows his best traits in his family circle. He reminds one of certain human beings who take excellent care of their own, but who are neither good neighbors nor desirable citizens. Occasionally, however, he has family differences. My sister tells of watching a jay bring twig after twig for nest-building to his mate, who was evidently in a bad mood. She would have none of them; she seized each twig and threw it away with a disagreeable yăh, yăh. After repeated attempts, he gave it up and both flew away. My sister never learned what occurred later.
The jay is an inveterate tease. He delights in annoying poor half-blind owls in the day-time, by pecking at them from unexpected quarters. An owl has been known to seize the Tormentor and speedily put an end to his existence.
The blue jay is a member of the same family to which the crow belongs, and while totally different in appearance, resembles him in his cleverness, his fearlessness, and his audacious insolence. Dr. Henshaw, formerly of the Biological Survey in Washington, brings the following accusation against this bird:
“The blue jay is of a dual nature. Cautious and silent in the vicinity of its nest, away from it, it is bold and noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready to scream ‘thief’ at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases, its remarks are applicable to none more than itself, a fact neighboring nest-holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding season the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and young of other birds, and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficial than itself.”[4]
Mr. E. R. Kalmbach, also of the Biological Survey, says that in winter jays eat the eggs of the tent caterpillar, and the larvæ of the brown-tail moth, besides waste grain, and “mast,”—the name given to vegetable food such as acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, etc. It likes pecans and cultivated fruit in their season—two other points against the bird. The wild fruits it selects are of no economic value.
Mr. Kalmbach concludes: “The blue jay probably renders its best service to man in destroying grasshoppers late in the season and in feeding on hibernating insects and their eggs, as they do in the case of the tent caterpillar and brown-tail moth. Beetles and weevils of various kinds also fall as their prey. The severest criticism against the species is the destruction of other birds and their eggs. Where we wish to attract the latter in large numbers about our dooryards, in our parks, and in game preserves, it will be well not to allow the jay to become too abundant.”[5]
Wilson Flagg says: “The blue jay is a true American. He is known throughout the continent and never visits any other country. At no season is he absent from our woods.
“He has a beautiful outward appearance, under which he conceals an unamiable temper and a propensity to mischief. There is no bird in our forest that is arrayed in equal splendor. But with all his beauty, he has, like the peacock, a harsh voice. He is a sort of Ishmael among the feathered tribes, who are startled at the sound of his voice and fear him as a bandit. There is no music in his nature; he is fit only for ‘stratagems and spoils.’
“He is an industrious consumer of the larger insects and grubs, atoning in this way for some of his evil deeds. I cannot say, therefore, that I would consent to his banishment, for he is one of the most cheering tenants of the grove at a season when they have but few inhabitants.”[6]