CROWS. 279 



This species is best known in Maine by the name of the 

 ' Carrion-bird,' * which is usually applied to it on account of 

 its carnivorous propensities. When their appetite is satisfied, 

 they become shy, and are in the habit of hiding themselves 

 amongst close woods or thickets ; but when hungry, they 

 show no alarm at the approach of man, nay, become famil- 

 iar, troublesome, and sometimes so very bold as to enter 

 the camps of the ' lumberers,' or attend to rob them of the 

 bait affixed to their traps. My generous friend, Edward 

 Harris, 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 very 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 

 by 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 with a piece of flesh of any kind. Immediately on see- 

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

 are busily engaged 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 unfrequently kills 

 them. They even enter the camps, and would fain eat from 

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

 caught in any kind of trap. My friend, the Eev. 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 

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

 the Jay had commenced eating before he was himself caught. 



" In the winter they are troublesome to the hunters, espe- 

 cially 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 mutilating it as much 

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



* " Meat Hawk " is also a name in very general use in Maine. — W. B. 



