jay, common name for a number of birds of the family Corvidae (crows and jays), found in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The best-known representatives in America are the blue jay, Cyanocitta cristata, and the Canada jay. The Canada jay is gray, about 12 in. (30 cm) long, with a white throat and forehead and black nape; it has no crest. Found in northern coniferous forests and swamps, it is known for its habit of stealing bright objects, and is called locally camp robber, whisky jack, and moose bird. The common jay is of wide distribution and is hunted for game in England and Europe. The female lays from five to seven eggs per clutch, and the male helps incubate them. The Florida, or scrub, jay has blue markings and no crest. The European jay is fawn-colored, with a black and white crest and wings of black, white, and blue. Jays are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Corvidae.

blue jay, common name for a familiar bird (Cyanocitta cristata) of central and E North America, allied to the crow, the raven, and the magpie, belonging to the family Corvidae. Almost a foot (30 cm) long, it is handsome and conspicuous. Its upper parts, including the crest, are grayish violet blue. The wings and tail are bright blue with black and white markings, the neck is collared with black, and the under parts are gray and white. Except during the nesting season it has a raucous cry with hawklike and other imitative sounds. Some winter in their northern range, but many travel south. They feed chiefly on large insects, seeds, and nuts (especially acorns and beechnuts); they also eat eggs and nestlings. When the female blue jay is incubating, she is fed by the male. Blue jays are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Aves, order Passeriformes, family Corvidae.

McCloy, John Jay, 1895-1989, U.S. government official, b. Philadelphia. A lawyer, he gained an international reputation when after a long investigation he fixed responsibility on the German government for the Black Tom munitions explosion in Hoboken, N.J., in 1917. He was Assistant Secretary of War in World War II and in 1947 became president of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank). He resigned in 1949 and was U.S. military governor and high commissioner for Germany (1949-52). He returned (1961-63) to government service to act as President Kennedy's principal disarmament adviser. He is the author of The Challenge of American Foreign Policy (1953) and The Atlantic Alliance (1969).

Lerner, Alan Jay, 1918-86, American lyricist and librettist, b. New York City. After two years as a radio scriptwriter, Lerner began an association with the composer Frederick Loewe that resulted in several popular musicals, including Brigadoon (1947, film 1954), Paint Your Wagon (1951, film 1969), Camelot (1960, film 1967), and the Academy-Award-winning film Gigi (1958). Their highly successful My Fair Lady (1956, film 1964), an adaptation of Shaw's Pygmalion, has been translated into many languages. Lerner also wrote Love Life (1948) with Kurt Weill and the book for the film An American in Paris (1951).

John Jay College of Criminal Justice: see New York, City University of.

Jay, William, 1789-1858, American jurist and reformer, b. New York City; son of John Jay (1745-1829). For most of the period from 1818 to 1843 he served as judge of the county court of Westchester co., N.Y. An active abolitionist, Jay helped establish (1833) the New York City Anti-Slavery Society, was a strong opponent of the African colonization plan as a solution to slavery, and wrote vigorous pamphlets and articles, which were collected in his Miscellaneous Writings on Slavery (1853). He was a founder (1816) of the American Bible Society and president (1848-58) of the American Peace Society. His writings include a two-volume life of his father (1833).

Jay, John, 1745-1829, American statesman, first Chief Justice of the United States, b. New York City, grad. King's College (now Columbia Univ.), 1764. He was admitted (1768) to the bar and for a time was a partner of Robert R. Livingston. His marriage to Sarah, daughter of William Livingston, allied him with that influential family. In pre-Revolutionary activities he reflected the views of the conservative colonial merchant, opposing British actions but not favoring independence. Once the Declaration of Independence was proclaimed, however, he energetically supported the patriot cause. As a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses he urged a moderate policy, served on various committees, drafted correspondence, and wrote a famous address to the people of Great Britain. Returning to the provincial congress of New York, he guided the drafting (1777) of the first New York state constitution. Jay was appointed (1777) chief justice of New York but left that post to become (Dec., 1778) president of the Continental Congress. In 1779 he was sent as minister plenipotentiary to Spain, where he secured some financial aid, but failed to win recognition for the colonial cause. He was appointed (1781) one of the commissioners to negotiate peace with Great Britain and joined Benjamin Franklin in Paris. Jay declined further diplomatic appointments in Europe and returned to America to find that Congress had appointed him Secretary of Foreign Affairs, a post he held (1784-89) for the duration of the government under the Articles of Confederation. Although he was able to secure minor treaties, he found it impossible under the Articles of Confederation to make progress in the settlement of major disputes with Great Britain and Spain, a situation that caused him to become one of the strongest advocates of a more powerful central government. He contributed five papers to The Federalist, dealing chiefly with the Constitution in relation to foreign affairs. Under the new government Jay became (1789-95) the first Chief Justice of the United States. He concurred in Justice James Wilson's opinion in Chisholm v. Georgia, which led to the passing of the Eleventh Amendment. When the still-unsettled controversies with Great Britain threatened to involve the United States in war, Jay was drafted for a mission to England in 1794, where he concluded what is known as Jay's Treaty. After having unsuccessfully opposed George Clinton for governor of New York in 1792, Jay was elected and served (1795-1801) two terms. He declined reelection and also renomination to the U.S. Supreme Court and retired to his farm at Bedford in Westchester co. for the remaining 28 years of his life.

Hurley, Patrick Jay, 1883-1963, U.S. cabinet officer, b. Choctaw Territory (now in Oklahoma). Hurley practiced law in Tulsa, Okla., was (1912-17) national attorney for the Choctaw Nation, and fought in France in World War I as a colonel in the U.S. army. He was Under Secretary of War (1929) and Secretary of War (1929-33), served on diplomatic missions, and participated in Republican party politics. After the outbreak of World War II he saw active fighting in East Asia as the personal representative of Gen. George C. Marshall. Hurley served (1942) as the first U.S. minister to New Zealand and afterward was (1942-43) President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's personal representative in the Middle East. He was promoted (1944) to major general, and was envoy (1944-45) and ambassador to China. A champion of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Chinese government, he later charged that officials in the U.S. Department of State had subverted the U.S. policy of support to Chiang's government.

Gould, Stephen Jay, 1941-2002, American paleontologist and science writer, b. Queens, New York; grad. Antioch College (B.S., 1963), Columbia Univ. (Ph.D., 1967). With Niles Eldredge, Gould proposed (1972) the evolutionary theory of "punctuated equilibrium," which states that in geologic time and strata, the appearance of a new species occurs suddenly and without the continuous slow accretion of tiny variations, due to the nature of the evolutionary process and the relationship between the evolutionary and geologic timescales (see evolution); and that the new species then persists virtually unchanged in the fossil record for perhaps millions of years. The "missing links" in evolutionary development sought since the time of Charles Darwin are thus unlikely to be found. Elaboration of these concepts has led to extensive scientific debate. Gould addressed these and other aspects of evolutionary thought in his magnum opus, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002). He began his lifelong teaching career at Harvard in 1967 and wrote many other books, including Ontogeny and Phylogeny (1977), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History (1989), and the posthumously published The Hedgehog, the Fox, and the Magister's Pox (2003), as well as essay collections drawn from his popular articles in Natural History magazine. Gould was also an avid baseball fan; his Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville, an essay collection, was also published posthumously in 2003.

Gould, Jay, 1836-92, American speculator, b. Delaware co., N.Y. A country-store clerk and surveyor's assistant, he rose to control half the railroad mileage in the Southwest, New York City's elevated railroads, and the Western Union Telegraph Company. With savings of $5,000 at 21 he became a speculator, particularly in small railroads. After some years he became a director of the Erie RR. Aided by James Fisk and Daniel Drew, he defeated Cornelius Vanderbilt for control of this road and manipulated its stocks in his own interest and that of his group, including "Boss" Tweed. The Gould-Fisk scheme to corner gold in 1869 caused the Black Friday panic. Public protest forced the Gould group out of the Erie, ending with Gould's expulsion in 1872. He then bought into the Union Pacific and other western roads. He gained control of four lines that made up the Gould system. For years his name was a symbol of autocratic business practice, and he was widely disliked. After his death his estate and interests were managed by his son, George Jay Gould.

Gould, George Jay, 1864-1923, U.S. railroad owner, b. New York City; son of Jay Gould. He was associated with his father, inherited all the holdings on Jay Gould's death, and adopted daring policies. To compete with E. H. Harriman he bought the Denver & Rio Grande RR. When Harriman bought the Southern Pacific and bottled up the Gould roads, Gould purchased the Western Pacific and completed it to San Francisco to get an outlet to the sea. In the east he also bought or built lines from Toledo to Baltimore via Pittsburgh to give the Wabash RR an outlet to the Atlantic and to challenge the monopoly of the Pennsylvania RR. He seemed to have a transcontinental system in his grasp, but his financing was unsound, and he crashed in the Panic of 1907. By 1918 all the roads had been lost.

Gaynor, William Jay, 1849-1913, U.S. political leader, mayor of New York City, b. Oneida co., N.Y. He rose to prominence as a civic reformer in Brooklyn and, as justice of the New York supreme court (1893-1909), continued to oppose municipal graft. Tammany named him candidate; he won the 1909 election but soon lost Tammany support by his reform program, which was not highly successful. His strong and unconventional personality made him a spectacular figure of his time.

Darling, Jay Norwood, 1876-1962, American cartoonist, known as "Ding," b. near Charlevoix, Mich. He worked for the Sioux City, Iowa, Journal, for the Des Moines Register, and from 1917 to 1949 for the New York Tribune (later the Herald Tribune). His forceful and witty work won him the Pulitzer Prize for cartoons in 1923 and 1943. Actively interested in the preservation of wildlife, he served as chief (1934-35) of the U.S. Bureau of Biological Survey. He wrote Ding Goes to Russia (1931) and The Cruise of the Bouncing Betsy (1937).

Cooke, Jay, 1821-1905, American financier, b. Sandusky, Ohio. He founded Jay Cooke & Company, which marketed the huge Civil War loans of the federal government. He later turned to railroad bonds and in 1870 undertook to raise $100 million for the Northern Pacific and financed construction to Bismarck, N.Dak. The burden proved to be too great and continuing the financing became impossible. In 1873, Cooke's New York branch closed its doors and helped to precipitate the Panic of 1873.

Colman, Norman Jay, 1827-1911, American agriculturist and lawyer, b. near Richfield Springs, N.Y., grad. Univ. of Louisville law school, 1851. He promoted the passage of the Hatch Act (1887), which authorized the creation of agricultural experiment stations. As commissioner of agriculture (1885-89) he was influential in causing the Dept. of Agriculture to be made an executive department (1889) represented in the cabinet; he was the first Secretary of Agriculture.

Chapman, John Jay, 1862-1933, American essayist and poet, b. New York City, grad. Harvard, 1885. He was admitted to the bar in 1888, but after 10 years abandoned law for literature. Active in the anti-Tammany reform movement in the 1890s, Chapman was an active supporter of civil rights, and a fiery and pertinent observer of politics. Among his works are Emerson and Other Essays (1898), Memories and Milestones (1915), Songs and Poems (1919), and New Horizons in American Life (1932). He also wrote several plays, including The Treason and Death of Benedict Arnold (1910).

Canada jay: see jay.

Any of 35–40 bird species (family Corvidae) that inhabit woodlands and are known for their bold, raucous manner. Most are found in the New World, but several are Eurasian. Jays are nearly omnivores; some steal eggs, and many store seeds and nuts for winter use. They make a twiggy, cuplike nest in trees. The 12-in. (30-cm) blue jay, blue and white with a narrow black neckline, is found in North America east of the Rockies; westward it is replaced by the dark-blue, black-crested Steller's jay. Another abundant species is the scrub jay, found throughout western North America and in Florida.

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(born Sept. 10, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died May 20, 2002, New York, N.Y.) U.S. paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He received a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1967. With Niles Eldredge (b. 1943), he developed the controversial theory of punctuated equilibrium (1972), a revision of Darwinism that proposed that the evolutionary creation of new species occurs in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are followed by long periods of stability. He was widely known as a popularizing writer on biological and evolutionary topics, especially in Natural History magazine; his numerous books include The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002).

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(born Jan. 8, 1883, Indian Territory, U.S.—died July 30, 1963, Santa Fe, N.M.) U.S. diplomat. He began practicing law in Oklahoma in 1908. In World War I he served as a colonel in the American Expeditionary Force. Active in Republican Party politics during the 1920s, he served as U.S. secretary of war under Pres. Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. When the U.S. entered World War II, he was promoted to brigadier general and sent to the Philippines to examine the possibility of relieving U.S. troops on the island of Bataan; he succeeded three times in delivering food and ammunition to the beleaguered troops there. Throughout the remainder of the war he served as the personal representative of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. As ambassador to China (1944–45), he tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the Nationalists and the communists.

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(born Aug. 31, 1918, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died June 14, 1986, New York City) U.S. librettist and lyricist. Born to a prosperous retailing family, he studied at Juilliard and Harvard. He wrote more than 500 radio scripts between 1940 and 1942, the year he met the composer Frederick Loewe. The two began collaborating, and their first Broadway success came with Brigadoon (1947; film, 1954). It was followed by Paint Your Wagon (1951; film, 1969). My Fair Lady (1956) was an unprecedented triumph, setting a record for the longest original run of any musical; the film version (1964) won seven Academy Awards. Their film musical Gigi (1958) received nine Academy Awards. Camelot followed in 1960 (film, 1967). Lerner also collaborated with Kurt Weill (Love Life, 1948) and Burton Lane (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1965; film, 1970), among others. His film scripts include An American in Paris (1951, Academy Award).

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(born Dec. 12, 1745, New York, N.Y.—died May 17, 1829, New Bedford, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. jurist, first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He practiced law in New York City. Though he initially deplored the growing conflict between Britain and the colonies, he became a staunch supporter of independence once the revolution was launched. He helped assure the approval of the Declaration of Independence (1776) in New York, where he was a member of the provincial Congress. The following year he helped draft New York's first constitution and was elected the state's first chief justice, and in 1778 he was chosen president of the Continental Congress. In 1782 he joined Benjamin Franklin in Paris to negotiate terms of peace with Britain. On his return from abroad, Jay found that Congress had elected him secretary for foreign affairs (1784–90). Convinced of the need for a stronger centralized government, he urged ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Under the pseudonym Publius, he wrote five of the essays that later became known as the Federalist papers (the others were written by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton); published in New York newspapers in 1787–88, the essays were a masterly defense of the Constitution and republican government. As the first chief justice of the Supreme Court (1789–95), he set legal precedent by affirming the subordination of the states to the federal government. In 1794 he was sent to Britain to negotiate a treaty dealing with numerous commercial disputes. The Jay Treaty helped avert war, but critics contended that it was too favourable to Britain. Jay resigned from the court and was elected governor of New York (1795–1801).

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(born Dec. 12, 1745, New York, N.Y.—died May 17, 1829, New Bedford, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. jurist, first chief justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He practiced law in New York City. Though he initially deplored the growing conflict between Britain and the colonies, he became a staunch supporter of independence once the revolution was launched. He helped assure the approval of the Declaration of Independence (1776) in New York, where he was a member of the provincial Congress. The following year he helped draft New York's first constitution and was elected the state's first chief justice, and in 1778 he was chosen president of the Continental Congress. In 1782 he joined Benjamin Franklin in Paris to negotiate terms of peace with Britain. On his return from abroad, Jay found that Congress had elected him secretary for foreign affairs (1784–90). Convinced of the need for a stronger centralized government, he urged ratification of the U.S. Constitution. Under the pseudonym Publius, he wrote five of the essays that later became known as the Federalist papers (the others were written by James Madison and Alexander Hamilton); published in New York newspapers in 1787–88, the essays were a masterly defense of the Constitution and republican government. As the first chief justice of the Supreme Court (1789–95), he set legal precedent by affirming the subordination of the states to the federal government. In 1794 he was sent to Britain to negotiate a treaty dealing with numerous commercial disputes. The Jay Treaty helped avert war, but critics contended that it was too favourable to Britain. Jay resigned from the court and was elected governor of New York (1795–1801).

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orig. Jason Gould

(born May 27, 1836, Roxbury, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 2, 1892, New York, N.Y.) U.S. railroad executive, speculator, and robber baron. Educated in local schools, he worked as a surveyor and then operated a tannery. By 1859 he was speculating in the stocks of small railways. In 1867 he became a director of the Erie Railroad; in the following year he joined with Daniel Drew and James Fisk to prevent Cornelius Vanderbilt from buying control of the company. To this end he engaged in outrageous financial manipulations, including the issue of fraudulent stock and the payment of lavish bribes to New York state legislators to legalize the stock's sale. He and Fisk then joined forces with William Magear Tweed to profit from further stock manipulations. In 1869 they attempted to corner the gold market, causing the Black Friday panic. In 1872 public outcry forced Gould to cede control of the Erie Railroad. With a fortune of $25 million, he began buying large blocks of stock in Union Pacific Railroad Company and acquired control of that company by 1874. By 1881 he owned 15percnt of all U.S. rail mileage. Having made large profits by manipulating the company's stock, he pulled out of the company in 1882 and began building a new rail system southwest of St. Louis that by 1890 included half the region's rail mileage. In 1881 he gained control of Western Union Corp., and he owned the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883. He remained ruthless, unscrupulous, and friendless to the end.

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(born Aug. 10, 1821, Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 18, 1905, Ogontz, Pa.) U.S. financier and fund-raiser for the federal government during the American Civil War. He entered a Philadelphia banking house at age 18 and opened his own in 1861. That same year, he floated a $3 million war loan for the state of Pennsylvania. During the next four years he organized the sale of hundreds of millions in bonds for the federal government. Cooke's effort to finance construction of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1870 led to his firm's failure, but he rebuilt his fortune within a decade.

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(born Jan. 8, 1883, Indian Territory, U.S.—died July 30, 1963, Santa Fe, N.M.) U.S. diplomat. He began practicing law in Oklahoma in 1908. In World War I he served as a colonel in the American Expeditionary Force. Active in Republican Party politics during the 1920s, he served as U.S. secretary of war under Pres. Herbert Hoover from 1929 to 1933. When the U.S. entered World War II, he was promoted to brigadier general and sent to the Philippines to examine the possibility of relieving U.S. troops on the island of Bataan; he succeeded three times in delivering food and ammunition to the beleaguered troops there. Throughout the remainder of the war he served as the personal representative of Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt. As ambassador to China (1944–45), he tried unsuccessfully to reconcile the Nationalists and the communists.

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(born Sept. 10, 1941, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died May 20, 2002, New York, N.Y.) U.S. paleontologist and evolutionary biologist. He received a Ph.D. in paleontology from Columbia University and joined the faculty of Harvard University in 1967. With Niles Eldredge (b. 1943), he developed the controversial theory of punctuated equilibrium (1972), a revision of Darwinism that proposed that the evolutionary creation of new species occurs in rapid bursts over periods as short as thousands of years, which are followed by long periods of stability. He was widely known as a popularizing writer on biological and evolutionary topics, especially in Natural History magazine; his numerous books include The Panda's Thumb (1980), The Mismeasure of Man (1981), and The Structure of Evolutionary Theory (2002).

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orig. Jason Gould

(born May 27, 1836, Roxbury, N.Y., U.S.—died Dec. 2, 1892, New York, N.Y.) U.S. railroad executive, speculator, and robber baron. Educated in local schools, he worked as a surveyor and then operated a tannery. By 1859 he was speculating in the stocks of small railways. In 1867 he became a director of the Erie Railroad; in the following year he joined with Daniel Drew and James Fisk to prevent Cornelius Vanderbilt from buying control of the company. To this end he engaged in outrageous financial manipulations, including the issue of fraudulent stock and the payment of lavish bribes to New York state legislators to legalize the stock's sale. He and Fisk then joined forces with William Magear Tweed to profit from further stock manipulations. In 1869 they attempted to corner the gold market, causing the Black Friday panic. In 1872 public outcry forced Gould to cede control of the Erie Railroad. With a fortune of $25 million, he began buying large blocks of stock in Union Pacific Railroad Company and acquired control of that company by 1874. By 1881 he owned 15percnt of all U.S. rail mileage. Having made large profits by manipulating the company's stock, he pulled out of the company in 1882 and began building a new rail system southwest of St. Louis that by 1890 included half the region's rail mileage. In 1881 he gained control of Western Union Corp., and he owned the New York World newspaper from 1879 to 1883. He remained ruthless, unscrupulous, and friendless to the end.

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(born Aug. 10, 1821, Sandusky, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 18, 1905, Ogontz, Pa.) U.S. financier and fund-raiser for the federal government during the American Civil War. He entered a Philadelphia banking house at age 18 and opened his own in 1861. That same year, he floated a $3 million war loan for the state of Pennsylvania. During the next four years he organized the sale of hundreds of millions in bonds for the federal government. Cooke's effort to finance construction of the Northern Pacific Railway in 1870 led to his firm's failure, but he rebuilt his fortune within a decade.

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(born Aug. 31, 1918, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died June 14, 1986, New York City) U.S. librettist and lyricist. Born to a prosperous retailing family, he studied at Juilliard and Harvard. He wrote more than 500 radio scripts between 1940 and 1942, the year he met the composer Frederick Loewe. The two began collaborating, and their first Broadway success came with Brigadoon (1947; film, 1954). It was followed by Paint Your Wagon (1951; film, 1969). My Fair Lady (1956) was an unprecedented triumph, setting a record for the longest original run of any musical; the film version (1964) won seven Academy Awards. Their film musical Gigi (1958) received nine Academy Awards. Camelot followed in 1960 (film, 1967). Lerner also collaborated with Kurt Weill (Love Life, 1948) and Burton Lane (On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, 1965; film, 1970), among others. His film scripts include An American in Paris (1951, Academy Award).

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