34 



The female could quite readily be seen sitting, yet the birds carried on their 

 duties regardless of prying eyes. It seems a pity that their confidence should be 

 abused, but I am compelled to say that in all cases that came under my observa- 

 tion the Blue Jays badly repaid the persons in whose gardens they were protected 

 and allowed to raise their young. In the first place, they steal a large amount of 

 small fruit, and further, they rob and destroy the nests and young of other birds 

 to such an extent that they are positively injurious to agriculture, the birds they 

 destroy being all of that class whose food consists principally of insects, and 

 without whose assistance I doubt if we could succeed in raising any crop to 

 maturity. 



The Blue Jays themselves, however, destroy no inconsiderable number of 

 insects, and they do no damage to grain; they may occasionally pick off a little 

 corn from the cob, but that is about the extent of the injury they do in that 

 direction. Their unfortunate fondness for the young of other birds more valu- 

 able than themselves makes it necessary that they should be destroyed when they 

 take up their residence about our gardens, for it is there, and in our cultivated 

 fields, that our insectivorous birds do the most good; and to get them there we 

 must give them as much protection as possible from their natural enemies, and 

 teach them that they are in greater safety near our dwellings than they w^oijld be 

 in the woods. Birds of all kinds soon lose their fear of man if unmolested by 

 him, and particularly if they find that in his immediate neighborhood they can 

 raise their young safely. I know of several farms and large gardens where the 

 birds have been encouraged and protected from their enemies; to these places they 

 return in increased numbers year after year, until nearly all available breeding 

 places are taken up. On these premises the owners rarely suffer from the depreda- 

 tions of cut-worms or other insects, and so find themselves well repaid for the little 

 care they require to exercise on behalf of their feathered friends. 



Canada Jay, WJiishy Jack. In Northern Ontario, one of the commonest and 

 certainly the most familiar bird of the region is the Whisky Jack. This fluffy, 

 loose feathered creature — except at nesting time — ^seems to have no fear of human- 

 kind whatever; in fact, seeks and enjoys their society. As soon as the settler puts 

 up his shack and starts to cut a hole in the forest, the birds will be his constant 

 visitors; everything he does has an interest for them, from the felling of a tree, 

 which will expose some borers, to the cooking of a dinner; everything brings grist 

 to the Whisky Jack's mill and nothing comes amiss. 



Like the Blue Jay, this species is practically omniverous, and in its native 

 haunts is serviceable as a destroyer of insects and mice. 



JAYS. 



Description. 



BLUE JAY. 



Upper parts purplish blue; below pale gray: white on throat, belly and cris- 

 sum; forehead, a band passing across the back of the head down the sides of the 

 neck and across the breast black; head crested. Exposed part of wings and tail 

 rich blue, with black bars, the greater coverts, secondaries and tail feathers, ex- 

 cept the central broadly tipped with pure white. 



L., 11.50; W., 5.15; T., 5.50. 



Nest, in small trees or bushes. Eggs, four or five pale, greenish olive or 

 sometimes clay colored, thickly spotted with olive brown. Very variable. 



