OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. I 25 



ble altitudes in their search for food ; and Dr. A. P. Chadbourne 

 has recorded ('87, p. 104) a small flock seen on Mt. Washing- 

 ton opposite the Halfway House (3,840 ft.) on July 26, 1884. I 

 have once seen a flock in the Carter Notch (3,360 ft.) where, 

 on Sept. 15, 1900, at a sudden alarm call from one of the birds, 

 an entire flock of eight flew up from among the scrubby growth. 

 They seemed to have worked their way up one side of the 

 divide, and continued through the walls of the notch down the 

 other side, southward. Occasionally on late summer afternoons, 

 I have seen small flocks of Blue Jays busily catching flying in- 

 sects with all the ease and grace of a flycatcher. An old or- 

 chard tree is a favorite vantage point from which they fly out at 

 the passing insects and with easy, graceful flight, snap up their 

 prey, and then with set wings sail to a branch of another tree. 

 I have watched small flocks engaged at this occupation for a 

 half an hour or more at a time, the birds maintaining almost 

 perfect silence throughout, save for an occasional low, rattling 

 note. 

 152. Perisorens canadensis (Dinn.). Canada Jay. 



A permanent resident of the upper Canadian zone of the 

 White Mountains and the northern parts of the state. North 

 of the White Mountains the bird is not uncommon in the dense 

 coniferous forests, and Mr. C. J. Maynard ('72) mentions two 

 specimens taken at Umbagog early in June. On the higher 

 mountains of the Presidential and neighboring ranges the birds 

 are rather common in the dense balsam and spruce growth from 

 3,000 to 4,000 feet. Dr. A. P. Chadbourne ('87) notes having 

 observed small flocks of half a dozen on the Presidential range 

 on three or four occasions, and Mr. Bradford Torrey, in his 

 "Footpath Way," mentions having seen it once on Clin- 

 ton and again on the side of Mt. Washington, where a small 

 " family party " was observed. Mr. H. W. Wright has seen 

 the bird several times on Mt. Adams, and once also on May 26, 

 1899, at Bowman's, a station on the north side of Adams, and 

 at an elevation of only 1,500 feet. On the Carter- Moriah range 

 I have found the bird usually in pairs during late summer, 

 above 3,000 feet, and am told of nests having been found on 



