Jay | |
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Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius) | |
Scientific classification![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Passeriformes |
Superfamily: | Corvoidea |
Family: | Corvidae |
Genera | |
Ajay is a member of a number ofspecies of medium-sized, usually colorful and noisy,passerinebirds in thecrowfamily,Corvidae. The evolutionary relationships between the jays and themagpies are rather complex. For example, theEurasian magpie seems more closely related to theEurasian jay than to theEast Asianblue andgreen magpies, whereas theblue jay is not closely related to either. The Eurasian jay distributes oak acorns, contributing to the growth of oak woodlands over time.
Jays are not amonophyletic group. Anatomical and molecular evidence indicates they can be divided into aNew World and anOld World lineage (the latter including theground jays and thepiapiac), while the grey jays of the genusPerisoreus form a group of their own.[1] Theblack magpies, formerly believed to be related to jays, are classified astreepies.
Image | Genus | Living species |
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![]() | GarrulusBrisson, 1760 |
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![]() | PodocesFischer von Waldheim, 1821 - Ground jays |
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![]() | PtilostomusSwainson, 1837 |
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Image | Genus | Living species |
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![]() | PerisoreusBonaparte, 1831 - Grey jays |
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Image | Genus | Living species |
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![]() | AphelocomaCabanis, 1851 - Scrub-jays |
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![]() | GymnorhinusWied-Neuwied, 1841 |
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![]() | CyanocittaStrickland, 1845 |
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![]() | CalocittaG.R. Gray, 1841 - Magpie-jays |
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![]() | CyanocoraxF. Boie, 1826 |
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![]() | CyanolycaCabanis, 1851 |
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The wordjay has an archaic meaning in American slang meaning a person who chatters impertinently.[2][3]
The termjaywalking 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 authorRobert 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]
An overly talkative person; a chatterbox.