CANADA JAY 11 



a white forehead. It looks much larger than it really is on account of 

 its fluffy plumage; in cold weather, especially, its soft plumage is so 

 much expanded as to exaggerate its size. Its small bill, fluffy plumage, 

 and conhding manners suggest an overgrown chickadee. The only gray 

 bird of similar size in the north woods is the northern shrike, whose 

 black wings and tail and larger bill are distinctive. 



Fall. — A. Dawes DuBois writes to me: "During my 11 years of resi- 

 dence in the Lake Minnetonka region, in Hennepin County, Minn,, I 

 have seen Canada jays in the fall of one year only. They visited us in 

 October and November 1929. On November 24 two of them were at- 

 tracted to a chunk of suet fastened to the trunk of a tree close to our 

 house. Their method was to cling either on top of the suet or to the 

 bark of the tree, at one side of it. They took turns at this repast. One 

 waited in the tree while the other was eating; then it flew down to take 

 its share. In this manner they alternated, with some regularity ; but one 

 of them seemed dominant over the other." 



The Canada jay is supposed to be permanently resident in the north 

 woods, where it breeds ; and it probably does usually remain there during 

 ordinary winters, provided there is no failure in its food supply. It 

 undoubtedly wanders about more or less in search of food and at times 

 has made quite extensive migrations to points south of its breeding 

 range. The two follov/ing quotations illustrate this point. On September 

 5, 1884, Napoleon A. Comeau wrote from Godbout, Quebec, to Dr. C. 

 Hart Merriam (1885) as follows: "We have lately had a most extraor- 

 dinary migration of the Canada jay (Perisoreus). One afternoon I 

 counted over a hundred in the open space near the old Hudson's Bay 

 Company's house here ; and almost every day since the first of this 

 month it has been the same. I believe this unprecedented flight must 

 be owing to scarcity of berries in the interior, and, since they happen lo 

 be plentiful along the coast this fall, the birds follow the shore to feed 

 on them." 



M. Abbott Frazar (1887) writes from Quebec Labrador: 



On my return to Esquimaux Point, the first week in September, * ♦ ♦ I was 

 soon made aware of an immense migration of these jays which was taking 

 place. Right directly back from the house the low hills terminated in a straight 

 line at right angles with the coast, and in a path which ran along the foot of 

 these hills I took my stand and waited for the jays as they came straggling 

 down the hillside. The flocks varied in size from a dozen to fifty or so individuals 

 and kept following each other so closely that an interval of ten minutes was a 

 rarity and they never varied their line of migration but kept right on, taking 

 short listless flights from tree to tree. I devoted but two forenoons to them 

 and although I had nothing but squib charges of dust to kill them with, being 

 out of medium sized shot, I killed ninety and could easily have trebled that 

 number had I wished. How long the force of the migration kept up I cannot say 



