The
Jayhawk on page 8 is by J. W. Fazel. The other illustrations originally appeared,
with different captions, in the Graduate Magazine, and are used by ...
www.kancoll.org/khq/1944/44_1_mechem.htm -Cached - Similar pages
Even the names, Jayhawk and Jayhawker, are elusive. They are like the chicken and the egg, nobody knows which came first. The earliest use of either word seems to have been in 1849 when a party of adventurers from Illinois, who called themselves Jayhawkers, made the nickname famous in the California desert known as Death Valley. There are references to Jayhawkers in Texas history, which may be of an earlier date, but are not authenticated. The name became common during the territorial troubles and was at first applied to both sides. Jennison's regiment of Free-state men, as well as Quantrill's raiders, were at one time called Jayhawkers. The name finally stuck to the anti-slavery side and eventually to all the people of Kansas.
As to the word Jayhawk, it has now sent several generations of Kansans to the ornithologies. Probably the belief that somewhere the bird had a real prototype will never die. The story of Pat Devlin has always encouraged this hope. Devlin was a native of Ireland, an early immigrant to Kansas. One day in 1856 he was returning home after some private plundering across the Missouri border. When asked what he had been up to, he replied, "You know, in Ireland we have a bird we call the Jayhawk, which makes its living off of other birds. I guess you might say I've been Jayhawking!"
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