Damage to the eggs of poultry may be reduced to a minimum by careful housing of laying hens, and the farmer can protect his sprouting grain to a large extent by the use of tar-coated seed. It will be well also to keep the crow within reasonable numbers on game preserves and public parks where it is desired to encourage the nesting of smaller birds. While legal protection is not needed for so wary an individual as the crow, it seems well, where local conditions have not aggravated some particular shortcomings of the bird, to allow it to continue the good services rendered to man in the destruction of noxious insects. BLUE JAY. The blue jay[45] (fig. 17) is a conspicuous member of our bird population east of the Plains, especially in autumn when his brilliant plumage contrasts vividly with the brown foliage. Even in winter he stays with us, though at this time he is less common along our northern border. In spring and summer, while by no means uncommon, the blue jay is not so often noticed, as the retiring disposition which he assumes during the breeding season assists in protecting him from enemies. This also allows him to carry on with considerable impunity that inglorious practice of nest robbing of which, in a measure, he has been rightfully accused. [45] _Cyanocitta cristata._ [Illustration: Fig. 17.—Blue jay. Length, about 11½ inches.] Examination of 530 stomachs collected at all times of the year in 30 of our Eastern States and Canada shows that insects comprise about 22 per cent of the yearly sustenance. About three-fourths of these are injurious, the remainder being neutral or beneficial. Of the injurious insects grasshoppers form the largest portion; in August nearly a fifth of the food. Caterpillars are conspicuous in July and August and at this time average about a tenth of the stomach contents. Both laboratory investigations and field observations have established the fact that in winter the eggs of the tent caterpillar and the hibernating larvæ of the brown-tail moth in New England are eagerly sought. Scarabæid beetles form about 4 per cent of the yearly food, and click beetles and wireworms about 1 per cent. Of the beneficial forms ground beetles (3 per cent) and hymenopterous insects, part of which are parasitic (2.5 percent), are taken most frequently. A few other invertebrates, as spiders, millipedes, mollusks, and crustaceans, also are eaten throughout the year.