SHORT-BILLED JAY. 599 



and squeaking, though it occasionally makes a low chatter- 

 ing, especially when its food appears in view. Like our 

 Blue Jay it has the habit of hoarding berries, morsels of 

 meat, &c. in the hollows of trees, or beneath their bark. 

 These magazines prove useful in winter, and enable it to rear 

 its hardy brood even before the disappearance of the snow 

 from the ground, and long before any other bird indigenous 

 to those climates. Its nest is concealed with such care that 

 but few of the natives have ever seen it. 



SHORT-BILLED JAY. 



(Corvus (Garrulus) brachyrynchus, Nobis. Garrulus brachyryn- 

 chus, SwAiNsoN, North. Zool. ii. p. 296. pi. 55. Jeeza, of the Cop- 

 per Indians, and Dog-Ribs.) 



Sp. Charact. — Bluish-grey, darker on the head: frontlet, chin, 

 orbits and ears blackish : bill short. 



The only specimen obtained of this dusky and inelegant 

 bird, according to Richardson, was killed on the roof of the 

 dwelling house at Fort Franklin. Its general appearance 

 and manners resemble those of the Canada Jay so strongly, 

 that it was not recognised as a distinct species, and conse- 

 quently it could not be ascertained whether it replaced the 

 Canadian species in high latitudes, or whether both existed 

 in the same range of climate. 



Length 10 inches ; the tail 4 inches 3 lines ; length of the wing 5 

 inches 2 lines ; the bill above, 8 lines, to the rictus 10^ lines ; tarsus 

 li^ inches; the middle toe 9 lines long. — Bluish-grey, lightest on 

 the rump and belly ; deepening on the head and wing coverts to 

 blackish-grey. Frontlet, orbits, chin, and ears blackish; breast ting- 

 ed with yellowish-grey. Shafts of the quills and tail, and inner 

 w^ebs of the former, pitch-black ; tips of the lesser quills and tail pale 

 yellowish-grey, approaching to white. Bill blackish, the commissure 

 and tip pale. Legs blackish-brown. Bill similar to that of C. cana- 

 densis but a little shorter, rather broader at the base. Wings 3 

 inches shorter than the tail. 



