Jay
Jay | |
---|---|
Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Superfamily: | Corvoidea |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genera | |
|
A jay is a member of a number of
green magpies, whereas the blue jay
is not closely related to either. The Eurasian jay distributes oak acorns, contributing to the growth of oak woodlands over time.
Systematics and species
Jays are not a
black magpies, formerly believed to be related to jays, are classified as treepies
.
Old World ("brown") jays
Image | Genus | Living species |
---|---|---|
Garrulus Brisson, 1760 |
| |
Podoces Fischer von Waldheim, 1821 - Ground jays |
| |
Ptilostomus Swainson, 1837 |
|
Grey jays
Image | Genus | Living species |
---|---|---|
Perisoreus Bonaparte, 1831 - Grey jays |
|
New World jays
Image | Genus | Living species |
---|---|---|
Aphelocoma Cabanis, 1851 - Scrub-jays |
| |
Gymnorhinus Wied-Neuwied, 1841 |
| |
Cyanocitta Strickland, 1845 |
| |
Calocitta G.R. Gray, 1841 - Magpie-jays |
| |
Cyanocorax F. Boie, 1826 |
| |
Cyanolyca Cabanis, 1851 |
|
In culture
Slang
The word jay has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.[2][3]
The term jaywalking was coined in the first decade of the 1900s to label persons crossing a busy street carelessly and becoming a traffic hazard.[4] The term began to imply recklessness or impertinent behavior as the convention became established.[5]
In January 2014, Canadian author Robert Joseph Greene embarked on a lobbying campaign among ornithologists in Europe and North America to get Merriam-Websters Dictionary to have a "Jabber of Jays" as an official term under bird groups.[6][7]
References
- PDF fulltext
- ^ "Jay". freedictionary.com.
An overly talkative person; a chatterbox.
- ^ "Definition of Jay by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc.
- ^ "Definition of Jaywalker by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc.
- ^ "jay-walker". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ "Writer lobbies for new word to describe jays". Vancouver Courier. January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
- ^ "British Ornithologists' Union: What say ye countrymen to a jabber of jays?". Community News. January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
External links
- "Blue Jay - Cyanocitta cristata videos". The Internet Bird Collection + The Macaulay Library.
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Jay". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.
- "Jays". Encyclopedia Americana. 1920.
- "Jay". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
- Newton, Alfred (1911). "Jay". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.).
- "New International Encyclopedia. 1905.
- Newton, Alfred (1881). "Jay". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (9th ed.).