Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/600

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580 JAY New England. The habits are much the same as those of the blue jay, its common name of carrion bird indicating its carnivorous propensi- ties ; the young are sooty brown, and are often called "whiskey-jacks." Several other jays are described by Baird and Brewer. The jay of Europe (garrulus glandarius. Linn.) is a hand- some bird, about as long but not so thick as a pigeon, of a light reddish brown color, the fore part of the head whitish with black spots, and the feathers elongated so as to form an erectile crest ; the blue wing coverts are band- ed with black ; the quills of the wings and tail, and broad band from the base of the bill under the eye, black ; the female differs but little from the male. It is common in Eng- land, southern Scotland, and other parts of Eu- rope ; shy and suspicious like all the crow fam- ily, it frequents wooded districts, feeding prin- pally on nuts, worms, and insects, in summer visiting gardens for the sake of their fruits and leguminous vegetables; it also plunders the nests of other species, and sometimes pounces on field mice and small birds. The flight is direct and quick, and performed with great dexterity through the thickets; the ordinary notes are harsh and loud ; its power of imi- tation, especially in captivity, is considerable, embracing the sounds of birds and domestic mammals, and any noise which may come to its ears. The eggs, from five to seven, are li x inch, pale bluish green, with faint frec- kles of purplish and yellowish brown. JAY, an E. county of Indiana, bordering on Ohio, and drained by the head waters of Sala- monie and Wabash rivers ; area, 370 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 15,000. The surface is undula- ting, and the soil of various qualities, but mostly fertile. The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis railroad passes through the S. W. corner, and the Cincinnati, Richmond, and Fort Wayne line intersects it. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 282,935 bushels of wheat, 216,090 of Indian corn, 96,139 of oats, 18,946 of flax seed, 24,106 of potatoes, 78,866 Ibs. of wool, 290,459 of butter, 45,003 of maple sugar, and 10,852 tons of hay. There were 6,046 horses, 4,192 milch cows, 4,352 other cattle, 24,938 sheep, and 16,866 swine; 4 carriage factories, 1 woollen factory, 1 flour mill, and 7 saw mills. Capital, Portland. JAY. I. John, an American statesman, first chief justice of the Ifnited States, born in New York, Dec. 12, 1745, died at Bedford, West- chester co., N. Y., May 17, 1829. He was de- scended from Augustus Jay, a Huguenot mer- chant of Rochelle in France, who after the revo- cation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 emigrated to America, and settled first in Charleston, S. C., and afterward in New York. Peter Jay, the father of John, was a merchant. While still an infant John Jay was removed with the rest of the family to a country seat at Rye, Westchester co., on the shore of Long Island sound. He received his early education at the grammar school of New Rochelle, and at King's (now Columbia) college, where he graduated in 1764. He studied law in the office of Benjamin Kissam at the same time with Lindley Murray, the grammarian. In 1768 Jay was admitted to the bar, and formed a partnership with Robert R. Livingston, after- ward chancellor of the state of New York. The revolutionary movement called him active- ly into the field of politics. While he deemed the course of the British ministry dangerous to the rights and liberties of his countrymen, his sentiments as to the mode of resistance and redress were moderate. When intelligence of the passage of the Boston port bill reached New York, a meeting was held, May 16, 1774,. and a committee of 51 formed to correspond with the other colonies. Jay was appointed a member of this committee, and at their first meeting, May 23, a sub-committee of four was nominated to draft an answer to the Boston committee, who had recommended the general adoption of a non-importation and non-ex- portation agreement until the act for blocking up their harbor was repealed. He was a mem- ber of this sub-committee, and is supposed to have been the author of the reply to the Bos- ton address, in which the proposition to en- ter into an agreement of non-intercourse was pronounced premature and inexpedient, and a general congress of the colonies recommended. Though the moderation of this document gave much offence to the more ardent patriots, the suggestion of a congress was concurred in, and Philip Livingston, Isaac Low, John Alsop, and John Jay were unanimously elected delegates to it, and were soon afterward adopted as their delegates by the city of Albany and by some towns in Westchester and Dutchess counties. The congress met on Monday, Sept. 5, 1774, at the Carpenters' hall in Philadelphia. Jay, though the youngest member but one, took a leading part in its proceedings. He was at this time strongly opposed to any attempt at inde- pendence, but desired to see the difficulties be- tween the colonies and the mother country ad- justed on terms satisfactory to both parties. When convinced, however, by the course of events, that independence had become a neces- sity, he embraced the measure with zeal and lent it . hearty and efficient support. He par- ticipated in most of the debates that arose, and made his first speech upon the question of the mode of voting in the congress. On Sept. 6 he was appointed one of a committee of two from each colony to state the rights of the colonies in general, the violation of those rights, and the proper mode of redress. On Oct. 11 he was appointed one of a committee of three to prepare a memorial to the people of British America and an address to the people of Great Britain. The latter document, written by Jay, gave its author a great reputa- tion throughout the country. In the second continental congress, which met at Philadel- phia May 10, 1775, Jay was one of a commit- tee of three appointed to draw up an address