WINTER COMRADES 15S 



The food of the Canada Jay is everything in 

 the line of meat that may be found around the 

 camps of hunters and lumbermen, even candles, 

 salt pork and soap being quite within the range 

 of their appetites. They eat bird's eggs, young 

 birds, mice, and other rodents, in fact practi- 

 cally everything in the animal kingdom they 

 may lay bill to, besides acorns and beechnuts. 

 Notwithstanding their omniverous appetites, 

 it is still a deep mystery to me how these birds 

 can secure enough food of any kind to sustain 

 life in the terrible cold of the six-months-long 

 winter. And when we consider that they nest 

 in early March and their young are reared 

 while yet the cruel grip of the Arctic cold 

 is unbroken, the mystery becomes even 

 greater. The answer to this problem will come 

 on closer acquaintance with their nesting habits, 

 to be gained only by some trained observer who 

 has the hardihood to brave the region of the 

 north woods at that forbidding season. Per- 

 haps the memory of gaunt hunger unsatisfied, 

 has led to one peculiar habit of this bird, the 

 storing for future use of any kind of food it 

 chances upon in excess of its immediate needs. 



The Canada Jay has rather a fluify appear- 

 ance, due to the thick coat of feathers it wears. 

 It is slightly longer than the Blue Jay and the 

 colors are much less conspicuous. The back is 

 slate gray. The back of the head and nape of 

 the neck are jet black, the throat, breast and 

 forehead white. The gray feathers of the wings 

 and tail are tipped with white. They have a 

 variety of harsh calls, the most common of 



