CANADA JAY. 233 



meat from the dishes, even whether fresh or salt. It 

 has also the mischievous sagacity of watching the hun- 

 ters set their traps for the martin, from which it purloins 

 the bait. Its appetite, like that of the Crow, appears 

 omnivorous. It feeds on worms, various insects, and their 

 larvae, and on flesh of different kinds ; lays up stores of 

 berries in hollow trees for winter ; and, at times, with the 

 Rein-deer, is driven to the necessity of feeding on Lich- 

 ens. The severe winters of the deserts he inhabits, 

 urges him to seek support in the vicinity of habitations. 

 Like the common Jay, at this season, he leaves his native 

 woods to make excursions after food, trying every means 

 for subsistence ; and, tamed by hunger, he seeks boldly the 

 society of men and animals. They are such praters as 

 to be considered Mocking-birds, and perhaps supersti- 

 tiously dreaded by the aborigines. They commonly fly 

 in pairs or rove in small families, are no way difficult to 

 approach, and keep up a kind of friendly chattering, some- 

 times repeating their notes for a quarter of an hour at a 

 time, immediately before snow or. falling weather. When 

 caught, they seldom long survive, though they never ne- 

 glect their food. Like most of their genus, they breed 

 early in the spring, building their nests, which are formed 

 of twigs and grass, in the Pine trees. They are said to lay 

 blue eggs, probably to the amount of 3 or 4, as they have 

 rarely more than 2 or 3 young at a brood, which, at first, 

 are perfect Crows, or quite black, and continue so for 

 some time. 



The Canada Jay is 11 inches in length, and 15 in extent. The 

 tail is long and cuneiform. Interior vanes of the wings brown, and 

 also partly tipped with white ; plumage of the head loose and prom- 

 inent. The drab of the under parts extends so as to form a sort of 

 collar round the neck. The bill and legs black. Irids dark hazeh 

 The sexes appear alike in color. 



20* 



