Two species of jays are common in California and its neighboring states.
One, the STELLER JAY, enjoys a good reputation. It differs from its
better-known relatives in appearance, also. Its _head_, _crest_,
_throat_, _breast_, and _back_ are a _brownish-black_; its _belly_ and
_rump_ are _light blue_, its wings and tail purplish-blue, barred with
black.
It is a shy bird and does not often approach the haunts of man. Its food
is very like that of other jays, but its habits bring no condemnation
upon it.[7]
The CALIFORNIA JAY is similar to the Florida Jay and may be easily
distinguished by its blue head _without a crest_, its blue neck, wings,
and tail, its brown back, white throat, and gray under parts. This jay
is a decided reprobate. Professor Beal has characterized it as follows:
"It freely visits the stockyards near ranch buildings, and orchards and
gardens. As a fruit stealer it is notorious. One instance is recorded
where seven jays were shot from a prune tree, one after the other, the
dead bodies being left under the tree until all were killed. So eager
were the birds to get the fruit that the report of the gun and the sight
of their dead did not deter them from coming to the tree. In orchards,
in canyons, or on hillsides adjacent to chaparral or other cover, great
mischief is done by this bird. In one such case an orchard was under
observation at a time when the prune crop was ripening, and jays in a
continuous stream were seen to come down a small ravine to the orchard,
prey upon the fruit, and return.
"Fruit stealing, however, is only one of the sins of the California jay.
That it robs hens' nests is universal testimony. A case is reported of a
hen having a nest under a clump of bushes; every day a jay came to a
tree a few rods away, and when it heard the cackle of the hen announcing
a new egg it flew at once to the nest. At the same time the mistress of
the house hastened to the spot to secure the prize, but in most cases
the jay won the race. This is only one of many similar cases recounted.
The jays have learned just what the cackle of the hen means. Another
case more serious is that related by a man engaged in raising white
leghorn fowls on a ranch several miles from a canyon. He stated that
when the chicks were very young the jays attacked and killed them by a
few blows of the beak and then pecked open the skull and ate out the
brains. In spite of all efforts to protect the chicks and kill the jays,
the losses in this way were serious."[8]