Jay

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Jay
Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius)
Scientific classificationEdit this 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
  • Florida scrub-jay
    , Aphelocoma coerulescens
  • Island scrub-jay
    , Aphelocoma insularis
  • California scrub-jay
    , Aphelocoma californica
  • Woodhouse's scrub-jay
    , Aphelocoma woodhouseii
  • Transvolcanic jay, Aphelocoma ultramarina
  • Mexican jay, Aphelocoma wollweberi
  • Unicolored jay, Aphelocoma unicolor
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

  1. PDF fulltext
  2. ^ "Jay". freedictionary.com. An overly talkative person; a chatterbox.
  3. ^ "Definition of Jay by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc.
  4. ^ "Definition of Jaywalker by Merriam-Webster". Merriam-Webster, Inc.
  5. ^ "jay-walker". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  6. ^ "Writer lobbies for new word to describe jays". Vancouver Courier. January 2, 2014. Retrieved January 2, 2014.
  7. ^ "British Ornithologists' Union: What say ye countrymen to a jabber of jays?". Community News. January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 6, 2014.

External links

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