The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-07-25
THE CANNIBAIIsTIC JAY.
A Hitherto Unsupported Bird of Prey
and the Fate That Awaits Him.

and the Fate That Awaits Him.
Lately much has been said regarding
the blueiay, in the columns of the press
throughout the country. The main sub
ject Of discussion regarding this beautiful
and picturesque bird has been as to
whether his nature is Of a canpibalistic
kind or not
Whether he is guilty or not of the
charges placed to his credit is of little
consequence TO the ordinary everyday
citizen, but to the hunter and sportsman
his depredations mean much and have
finally resulted in a declaration of war
against his clan.
An article IN recent number of the
Des Moines Leader gives an account of
the depredations of b.uejays on a Young
brood Of chickens confined in a coop and
says, after a close watch it was found
that the work was due to the blueiays.
They would swoop down into the COOP.
and, in short crack the heads of the
young chicks open with their beaks.
pick out the brains ana fly away. Con
sequently they, too. have began waging
a war against the bira
The war against he bluejay (cyanura
cristata) has been going on in MANY of
the Western, and in some Of the Eastern
states, on account oil his vicious cannf-
ballstic attitude towards the song and
game birds for some time. For some
years it has puzzled the sportsmen and
uaturahsts to find the cause OF the de
crease in the song and game bird families,
and after much research the defamation
has been traced 10 the ravages OF the iav
Many of the sporting Journals of the
United States have been devoting much
space and time to the jay, both pro and
con, and the majority of them have con-
demned the bird. As 10 the hunters, they
as a general thing, have concluded that
the jay must so. There is hard
ly a small boy who has en-
joyed himself in the past tine of robbing
BIRDS nests Of their young or their eggs
but what has a some zine during his ma
rauding expeditions found young birds
dead in their nests with the heads cracked
open and their brains missing. or the eggs
broken open and the msides gone Tong he
fore the time of Matching has arrived. This
is the work of the bmojdy.
a san Jose dispatch to the San Francisco
Chronicle of March Is, says:
San Jose, March l8-At a largely at
tended meeting of tie Santa Clara County
Sportsmen's Club, he'd here last night, It
was decided to organize a raid on the blue
jaws. Many speakers reported from obser-
vation that these birds are no respecters
of the close season, and constantly play
havoc with the quail, and the fish in the
shallow mountain streams. The jays des-
troy the eggs aud small birds and catch
and devour little fish shortly after they
have been spawned
"tI was decided to hold a bluejay hunt
on the 18th inst. to be a contest between
rival teams, the hunters shooting the least
number Of birds TO pay for a dinner for the
victorious team"
From this it will be seen that the sports
men of California have inaugurated war
fare against the jay with a determination
to dispose of his kind
The jay, because of being an insectivor-
Gus bird, is a help to the farmer and
gardener; but, on the other hand, because
of the destruction he wroughts on the
young corn and other vegetables, is a
great nuisance to them and as for the
harm to all birds, song, game and insec-
tvorous, it is impossible to form anything
like the proper estimation of the full
damage really done. In a great many
sections of the country the shotgun is
brought into play on the bluejay as In
dustriously as on the crow-and il is seri-
ously doubted if the latter does near so
much damage as the former.
Wherever jay-birds are found in any
numbers game and song birds are scarce.
Let a family of jays establish themselves
in a neighborhood where other birds abide
and the latter Immediately seek pastures
anew.
The jay is beautiful bird, and, to the
uninitiated, or to those who are not IA
miliar with his evil ways, he has many
and endearing qualities; but
as the methodical and never ending ex-
termination of the game, song and other
more or less valuable birds, has been
traced beyond question to his Unsuitable
thirst for the blood of the other members
OF the feathered tribe, and as there seems
no way TO reform him of his cannibalistic
proclivities other than by the shotgun
method, the sportsmen throughout the
country have decided TO dispense with his
presence in order that they may save the
other more valuable specimens of the
feathered population. And. after all, the
jay is a pretty worthless sort of "crltter''
and will probably not be much missed aft
err his family have flown 10 the green
fields over the river"