BIRD ODDITIES 295 



believe that under such circumstances the daily 

 presence of birds means much to a genuine 

 Nature lover. 



Jay Talk 



He tells me that in the early days in the lum- 

 ber camps the Canada Jay bore the name of 

 *^The Old Logger." The legend is that when 

 an aged lumberman died his spirit at once took 

 possession of a Jay, and if the bird was killed 

 the spirit, too, died with it. This tale was told 

 to all novices who appeared at the camps and 

 as a result they were very careful to do no injury^ 

 to these too friendly birds. Perhaps this lenient 

 treatment accounts, in a manner at least, for 

 their extreme boldness. 



Regarding the great hardihood of these birds 

 which enables them to rear their young when 

 the terrible cold of winter still prevails, he re- 

 lates the following story: The driver of the tote 

 team left camp one bitter cold morning in early 

 March to drive to the settlement, a long day's 

 journey distant. Because of an accident on the 

 road he was delayed for several hours and when 

 night overtook him he cut a fir tree from the 

 thick brush of which to make a shelter. As the 

 tree fell a brood of half-grown Canada Jays was 

 thrown out upon the frozen snow, cr)'ing pite- 

 ously in their distress. But quickly the parent 

 birds came and bore them away one by one to a 

 neighboring spruce. 



The eggs must have been laid and hatched in 

 February when the temperature was many 

 degrees below zero. Think of the vigor and 



