Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/599

 JAXARTES JAY 579 astronomical, astrological, &c. Most interest- ing to oriental scholars are the adaptations and elaborations of Indian materials. Thus the Rdmdydnd is based on the old Hindoo Edmd- yana, the Brdtd-yudd on the Mahdbhdrata, and the Sastrd mandvd on Manu's book of laws. There is also an abundance of romantic litera- ture. Peculiar are the carefully prepared texts for the puppet shows, which are generally epo- pees with heroes borrowed from the Hindoos. Several histories of Java have been written, and others specially treat the history of the domains of various native princes. Missionaries have introduced works on the Christian religion. Winter translated into Javanese "The Thou- sand and One Nights " and several other works, and a Javanese newspaper has recently been established. See Crawfurd, " History of the Indian Archipelago" (Edinburgh, 1830); Wil- helm von Humboldt, Ueber die Kawisprache (3 vols., Berlin, 1836-'9); the grammars by Gericke (Batavia, 1831) and Roorda van Ey- singa (Amsterdam, 1855) ; and Gericke's Ja- vaansch-Nederduitsch handwoordenboek (new ed. by T. Roorda, Amsterdam, 1871 et seq.). JAXARTES, the ancient name of the Sir Dar- ya, a river of central Asia. The Naryn, its main upper branch, rises, according to Fedchen- ko's map (Petermann's Jtfittheilungen, June, 1874), in Russian Turkistan, about lat. 44 30' N. and Ion. 76 30' E. Taking a western course, and increased by many small streams, it enters, about 20 m. below its junction with the Jumgal, the khanate of Khokan, which it traverses in a S. W. direction. Jointly with the waters of several small rivers of S. and E. Kho- kan, it forms the Sir Darya a little S. of the town of Namangan. The Sir Darya continues the S. W. course, enters the recently formed Russian province bearing its name, and turns soon after abruptly to the north. Reaching about lat. 45 N. and Ion. 67 E., it assumes a W. course and falls into the sea of Aral, at the N. E. side. The Jaxartes figures in the history of Cyrus, Alexander, and other conquerors, but till a time long after the Christian era was spoken of as emptying into the Caspian. JAY, the popular name of many conirostral birds of the crow family, and subfamily garru- lities, inhabiting Europe, Asia and its archipel- ago, and America. One of the handsomest of the genera is cyanura (Swains.), of which the type is the blue jay, and all the species, about 20 in number, belong to America; in this genus the head is crested, the bill rather slen- der and curved at the tip, which is slightly notched, the wings and tail blue with trans- verse black bars ; the circular nostrils are con- cealed by bristles; the wings are rounded, with the fourth, fifth, and sixth quills the longest ; tail about as long as the wings, length- ened, and graduated ; the toes strong, with the hind claw large and longer than the toe. The blue jay (C. crittata, Swains.) is too well known to need description ; it will be sufficient to say that the general color above is light purplish blue, with the wings and tail ultrama- rine ; the under parts are whitish, with a black crescent connected with a half collar on the neck above; besides the black bands on the wings and tail, the lateral feathers of the latter are tipped with white. This lively, impertinent, Blue Jay (Cyanura cristflta). and noisy bird is one of the most graceful and beautiful inhabitants of our woods ; it is found all over the United States, as far west as the Missouri, and as far north as Canada, remain- ing often through the winter in New England. It has a very mischievous disposition, robbing the farmer's corn crib, sucking eggs of other birds, and tearing the young to pieces ; it pos- sesses considerable imitative power, and seems to take delight in uttering the cry of the spar- row hawk to terrify the small birds and make them rush to cover ; it is very quarrelsome, and in an aviary will soon destroy other birds of its size. When eggs and tender birds fail, they eat nuts, fruits, grain, and insects ; they breed in all parts of the United States, though in Florida they are in a great measure replaced by the cyanocitta Floridana, and west of the Rocky mountains by Steller's jay. Their usual note is a harsh scream, uttered by all in the neigh- borhood at the approach of any rapacious bird or quadruped or human enemy, and on this ac- count a jay is often a nuisance to the sports- man in quest of nobler game. The length is about 12 in., and the extent of wings 14. The genus cyanocitta (Swains.) includes the jays without a crest, with no bands on the wings and tail, and with shorter wings. In C. Californica (Strickl.) the belly and under tail coverts are dull white; in C. Floridana (Bonap.) the belly is brownish ash ; in C. ul- tramarina (Strickl.) the blue color is very rich, with the under tail coverts white. The pre- vailing color is blue in all these jays. The Canada jay (peri&orem Canadensis, Bonap.) is about an inch less than the blue jay, of a gene- ral cinereous color above, smoky gray below, with a whitish breast and neck and brown nu- cleal patch. It is found throughout the north- ern parts of America, even into New York and