The cyanurus cristatus.
1792. Besides the snow bird, the crow, the blue jay, the wood pecker, and the partridge, have a degree of hardiness, equal to the severity of our winters, and are then seen flying; all others avoid it, by seeking a timely retreat.—Jeremy Belknap, ‘New Hampshire,’ iii. 173.
1794. I would not shoot a blue jay, while the Eagle is to be come at.—Gazette of the U.S., Phila., May 8.
1807. The blue jay, that is charmed by a black snake into its very jaws.—The Repertory (Boston), Jan. 2.
1818. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to prevent the killing of Crows, Blackbirds, Owls, Bluejays, and Hawks, at any season of the year.—Act of Assembly, Mass., Feb. 12.
1821. They found a blue-jay flying in a horizontal direction.—T. Dwight, ‘Travels,’ i. 56 (New-haven). (Italics in the original.)
1826. Like the ancient Avernus, I do not remember to have seen a single bird in the whole distance except the blue jay.—T. Flint, ‘Recollections,’ p. 262.
1844. No sounds broke the stillness, but the occasional screeching of a blue-jay, and the rumbling of the approaching wheels on the frozen ground.—Yale Lit. Mag., ix. 133 (Jan.).
1844. The shrill cry of the blue-jay becomes a scream!—Watmough, ‘Scribblings and Sketches,’ p. 159 (Phila.).
1847. I have known many a fellow returned from an academy, and even a college, who had no more ideas of his own than a blue jay.—D. P. Thompson, ‘Locke Amsden,’ p. 60 (Boston).
