152 SONG OF THE REDPOLE. 



if he had been reared and tamed in a shanty; 

 hopping round on the look-out for crumbs, he 

 slants his head, and looks so beseechingly with 

 his glittering grey eyes, that he must have a 

 hard cruel heart who could refuse such an appeal 

 for a stray morsel, or injure trustful little jack. 

 Indian children are their greatest enemies ; they 

 never wilfully kill them, but iteaze the poor little 

 fellows, until they die from sheer worry. 



This jay has an immense distribution, extend- 

 ing from Vancouver Island through British 

 Columbia, crossing the Rocky Mountains, and 

 ranging down the eastern slopes into Canada ; it 

 is found also throughout the Northern United 

 States. Its nest is, much like that of other jays, 

 built generally in a close bush. Four to seven 

 eggs are the usual number laid. They winter 

 throughout British Columbia and in Vancouver 

 Island. 



LESSEE, REDPOLE (^Egiothus linaria, Ca- 

 banis). Rather a rare bird in British Columbia; 

 it frequents swampy places, where the alders grow 

 thickly, and large hollow- stalked water-plants 

 flourish. To these it clings, and swinging, as if 

 performing a trapeze feat, pecks away at the seed- 

 pods, and searching the flowers if there are any 

 remaining, gobbles up any beetles that may have 



