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I HE Ottawa Naturalist 



[Vol. XXXII. 



paws from the top of the cage. Here he hung for 

 some minutes until he had finished his breakfast. 



Harlan I. Smith. 



Birds Observed at the Magdalen Islands in 

 Month of July. This list was made from mem- 

 ory after leaving the islands, so that other kinds may 

 have been seen which are not mentioned. I was not 

 engaged at anything ornithological at the time, and 

 merely afterwards jotted down the names of the 

 birds I remembered having seen. 



American robin (Planesikus migratoria) may 

 be seen at any time during the summer. 



Barn swallow (Hirundo erylhrogasler). This 

 bird is in evidence at its nesting time, when numbers 

 are to be seen flying in and out of their nests which 

 are built of mud placed against the eaves of barns 

 and other outbuildings. 



House sparrow (Passer domesticus). This 

 European intruder had just made its appearance at 

 the islands, and was then already beginning to make 

 its presence felt. 



American crow (Corvus brach^^rh^^ncJms). 

 Plentiful in the wooded parts of the islands and 

 in the fields. 



Horned lark (Oiocoris alpestris). Very com- 

 mon in July in open fields where the bird builds 

 its nest right on the ground where frequently cows 

 are grazing. In the latter part of July the nesting 

 was apparently about over, but although I cou'.d 

 not find the nest with the eggs, I caught a fledgling 

 in the open space where it was just learning to fly. 



Belted kingfisher (Ceryle alcyon). A single 

 specimen of this bird was seen at Havre Aubert, 

 Alright Island, which was alleged to have had a 

 nest in an excavation in one of the cliffs, but I did 

 not see its mate. 



HUDSONIAN curlew (Numenius hudsonicus). 

 Occasionally to be seen along the shores. 



Gannet (Sola bassana). The distribution of this 

 bird in the Maritime Provinces is very local, but it 

 is very plentiful at the Magdalens where it is often 

 to be seen resting on the bosom of the sea or on the 

 WDi-;. 



PetRIL. (Sp.?) This bird otherwise known by 

 the name of Mother-Carey's-Chicken is in evidence 

 during stormy weather when it may be seen flying 

 over the crests of boisterous waves. Two individuals 

 were seen by me during a storm when about two 

 miles off shore from 0!d Harry, Coffin Island. 



Common Tern (Sterna hirunda). May be seen 

 in the summer time flying over the sea at the islands 

 at any time. 



Herring gull (Larus argentaius). One of the 

 most common of birds at the islands, to be seen 

 either on the sea or on the land near the shore. 



This gull frequents the maritime coasts throughout 

 the year. 



MuRRE (Una troile). Frequently seen either on 

 the sea or on the wing. 



Black guillemot (Cepphus grylle). This species 

 is popularly known as the Sea Pigeon and is quite 

 ccmmon. ANDREW HalketT. 



An Ethnological Note on the "Whiskey 

 Jack." The term "whiskey-jack", locally applied 

 in Canada to the Canada Jay, looks for all the world 

 like a genuine English word. Ingenious theories 

 might be spun as to the origin and applicability of 

 the term. Such theories, however, would be little 

 more profitable than the well-known bit of folk 

 etymology that explains the asparagus plant as 

 "sparrow grass". As a matter of fact, "whiskey- 

 jack" is merely the perverted English form of an 

 Indian original. 



In his "Myths and Folk-Lore of the Timiskaming 

 Algonquin and Timagami Ojibwa",^ F. G. Speck 

 states that "the trickster-transformer Wiskedjak 

 'meat-biid' is the personified Canada Jay or 'Whis- 

 key-Jack'." He proceeds (pp. 2-16) to give a 

 number of Timiskaming Algonquin tales dealing 

 with this well-known Indian character. The name 

 Wiskedjak occurs in other forms in closely related 

 Algonquin tribes of Canada. In his "Notes on the 

 Eastern Cree and Northern Saulteaux",** Alanson 

 Skinner gives further tales referring to the same 

 mythological character. The Northern Saulteaux 

 form is given by him as Wisekejack, the Eastern 

 Cree form as Wisagatcak. Further, we find Wis- 

 agatchak stories of the Cree included by Frank 

 Russel in his "Explorations in the Far North."t 

 The Algonquin and Northern Saulteaux are to all 

 intents and purposes bands of the Ojibwa, who 

 have travelled north and come into contact with 

 their present neighbors the Cree. The main body 

 of Ojibwa tribes are not acquainted with Wis- 

 agatchak, so that it is a fair inference that he is, 

 to begin with, a Cree culture-hero and trickster and 

 that many of the tales told of him travelled to var- 

 ious other Algonkian tribes that neighbored the Cree. 

 It is not at all certain, however, that he originally 

 had anything to do with the Canada jay, as he does 

 not seem to be so identified in all of the tribes, nor 

 does the word itself indicate the jay. Evidently 

 related to Wisagatchak is the Fox culture-hero and 

 trickster Wisahka.ft The Fox Indians are now 



*Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 71, 

 Anthropological Series No. 9, 191.5, p. 1. 



**Anthropological Papers of the American Mu- 

 .seum of Natural History, vol. 9, 1911, pp. 83-88 

 and 173-175. 



tUniversitv of Iowa, 1898; see "Myths of the 

 Wood Crees." pp. 201-216. 



ttSee William .Tones' "Fox Texts," Publications 

 of the American Ethnological Society, vol. 1, 1907, 

 pp. 229-379. 



