270 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIKDS 



Esq., of Moorestown, New Jersey, told me that ■while fishing 

 in a birch canoe on the lakes in the interior of the State of 

 Maine, in the latter part of the summer of 1833, the Jays were 

 so fearless as to alight in one end of his bark, while he sat 

 in the other, and help themselves to his bait, taking ver}'^ little 

 notice of him. 



" The lumberers or woodcutters of this State frequently 

 amuse themselves in their camp during their eating hours with 

 what they call ' transporting the carrion bird.' This is done 

 b}^ cutting a pole eight or ten feet in length, and balancing it 

 on the sill of their hut, the end outside the entrance being 

 baited Avith a piece of flesh of any kind. Immediateh' on see- 

 ing the tempting morsel, the Jays alight on it, and while they 

 are busily engnged in devouring it, a wood-cutter gives a smart 

 blow to the end of the pole within the hut, which seldom fails 

 to drive the birds high in the air, and not unfrequeutly kills 

 them. The}' even enter the camps, and would fain eat from 

 the hands of tlie men while at their meals. They are easily 

 caught in any kind of trap. My friend, tlie Rev. John Bach- 

 man, informed me that when residing in the State of New York, 

 he found one caught in a snare which had been set with mapy 

 others for the common Partridge or ' Quail,' one of which the 

 Jay had commenced eating before lie was himself caught. 



" In the winter they are troublesome to tlie hunters, espec- 

 ially when the ground is thickly covered with snow, and food 

 consequently scarce, for, at such a time, they never meet with 

 a Deer or Moose hung on a tree, without mntihiting it as much 

 as in their power. In the Bay of Fundy I observed, several 

 mornings in succession, a Canada Ja}' watcliing the departure 

 of a Crow from her nest, after she had deposited an egg. 

 When the Crow flew off, the cunning Jay immediately repaired 

 to the nest, and carried away the egg. I have lieard it said 

 that the Canada Jay sometimes destroys the j'oung of other 

 birds of its species, for tlie purpose of feeding its own with 

 them ; but not having witnessed such an act, I cannot vouch 

 for the truth of the report, which indeed appears to me too 

 monstrous to be credited. 



