Illustrations of the Birds of California, Texas, Oregon, British and Russian America

by John Cassin

The European species are few in number, but that which is the most common and well known by the name from which has been derived the popular appellation now applied to nearly all of its more or less nearly allied relatives, is justly regarded as one of the most remarkable of the birds of that continent. It is the only species of this family which inhabits central Europe and the British Islands, and is much admired on account of the beauty of its plumage, which is for the greater part of a very handsome light reddish brown, with its wings richly colored of a beautiful light blue and a deep black. It is a cunning, cautious bird, and possesses very considerable powers of imitation and of voice in general. Nearly all the European ornithologists relate instances of specimens which they had seen in a state of domestication, some of which had been taught, not only to articulate words but also to imitate various sounds and the cries of animals. Bewick mentions one which would call a dog, and another which could imitate the noise made by a saw. Others have heard it imitate the mewing of a cat, the notes of other birds, and even the neighing of a horse. In Germany, where the taming and rearing of birds is made a matter of business to a much greater extent than we have any examples of in the United States, the Jay is a great favorite on account of this talent, or in some measure for the same reason that the Mocking bird is in this country. It does not appear, however, to possess the talent for accurate imitation, nor the taste nor talent for combination which is shown in such an eminent degree by the famous songster of this country, but to evince imitative instincts more similar to those of the Parrots.

Other Jays, of very handsome plumage, inhabit Asia, from the northern regions of which continent, as well as from northern Africa, a few species visit Europe. They are not abundant in either of the first mentioned continents.

The birds of this group are most numerous in America. In the higher northern latitudes and in the eastern parts of the United States, a few species only are found; several others, of which some account will be found in the present work, and some of which are very handsome and remarkable species have as yet to be regarded as exclusively western, having only been observed in the countries on the Pacific seaboard. We beg the liberty of saying, however, in passing, that it is as yet quite impossible to define, in any reliable manner, the limits of the range of any of the birds usually regarded as exclusively inhabiting the Western States and territories of the United States, so vast a central region having been but very imperfectly explored, and which yet presents to the enterprising scientific traveller one of the most interesting regions for research on the face of the globe. It comprises the entire range of country from the Mississippi river to beyond the Rocky Mountains, from the northern to the southern limits of the United States.

In Mexico and thence southward to Brazil and Patagonia, and, in fact, throughout South America, many species of Jays are to be met with in abundance, and of such beautiful plumage and variety of tints as far surpass those of any other country. The prevailing hues of the plumage of the greater number of the American species are the different shades of blue, from the most delicate ultramarine or azure to deep indigo, generally variegated, in a very agreeable manner, with white, black or yellow. Amongst the most handsome of these birds we may mention the great crested Jay of South America and the West Indies, Cyanocorax pileatus, a large and very showy species, the Mexican painted Jay, Cyanocitta ornata, which has the entire plumage of a deep blue color beautifully relieved by a large patch of very pale bluish white on the back part of the head and neck. Others, such as Beechey’s Jay of California and Mexico, Cyanocitta Beechii, of which we shall give a plate and description, have the plumage of fine silky blue above, and deep black on the under part of the body. There are a few species in which the prevailing color of the plumage is violet, as the Cyanocorax violaceus, a native of the northern parts of South America, and probably of Central America and Mexico. There are also a few species of which the bird figured in our present plate is one, in which the plumage is green, usually variegated with blue and yellow.

The Mexican species yet discovered are of very fine plumage, though generally of smaller size than many of those of South America. Several of the species of the southern portion of this continent are, in fact, so large that they approach the stature of their relatives, the crows, though clothed in a quite different style of vesture. In fact, some of the larger species are known to collectors and travellers by such names as the Blue crow, the Surinam crow, &c. The Cyanocorax azureus of South America is the “Blue Crow,” and is one of the largest species of this family.

The Jays must be regarded as highly organized birds, and are possessed of a superior order of instincts. However deficient in melody or compass of voice, there are few other birds in which are found combined so many characters or bird-like qualities. Delicacy of form, beauty of plumage, vigorous and enduring powers of flight, are united with much liveliness of disposition, unusual instincts of precaution and self-preservation, and the ability to subsist on very diversified descriptions of both animal and vegetable food. They are accordingly entitled to a superior position in any system of classification, based, as all zoological systems should be, on the knowledge of functional as well as of organic characters;—on the observations of the naturalist in the field or forest, not less than on the conclusions or discoveries of the anatomist.

Nearly all the species of this group of birds appear to partake to a considerable extent of the cunning, though not unpleasant nor unsociable habits of the Blue Jay of the United States, and like it they feed indiscriminately on seeds or fruits, worms, insects, and even small quadrupeds, or on other birds. They live principally in the forests, though several of the fine species of South America and all the species of North America frequently resort to the orchards and fields, or approach the habitations of men, and when captured young are readily domesticated.

The very handsome bird which, in our first plate, we present to our readers, is a recent addition to the Ornithology of the United States, having been observed in Texas, though previously known as a bird of Mexico. It is nearly related to the Peruvian Jay, C. yucas, Boddaert, or C. peruvianus, Gmelin, which is a native of the countries of western South America. It is, however, considerably smaller, and is differently colored on the inferior parts of the body, having there a prevailing tint of green instead of the clear yellow of that also handsome bird, and other characters tending to establish a clear specific difference.

This bird is abundant in Mexico. It was observed to be quite numerous on the tierra templada or table lands, and in the hills bounding the plains of Perote and Puebla on the east, by Mr. William S. Pease, an enterprising naturalist, who accompanied the army of the United States, under General Scott, throughout its campaign in Mexico. Mr. Pease learned that it lived on the sides of the hills throughout the year, and was called by the inhabitants, the pepe verde. His collection, now included in that of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, contained very fine specimens of both sexes, though his notes contain little information respecting them.

M. Lesson, an eminent French naturalist, was the first to describe this species. His description, from a Mexican specimen, is in the Révue Zoologique for 1839, p. 100. (Paris.) The first published notice of it as a Texan species is by Mr. Geo. N. Lawrence, in the Annals of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, vol. v., p. 115.