308 SINGING BIEDS — OSCINKS. 



tipped with white. Beneath smoky gi-ay. Crissiim whitish. Length, 10.50 ; extent, 

 17 00; wing, 5 50 ; tail, 6.00 ; tarsus, 1.40. Iris brown; bill and feet black. 



Hal). Northern America into the northern parts of the United States from the Atlantic 

 to the Pacific ; more south in llocky Mountains. 



Dr. Newberry found tliis bird common in California north of lat. 40° in 

 autumn, and tliey probably descend much farther south in winter, if not 

 resident in the highest Sierra Nevada, for nearly their whole length. I did 

 not see them about lat. 39° in September, but liave everywhere towards the 

 north fouftd them so scattered in their range that they may easily be over- 

 looked in a short visit to a district, tliough common there at times. 



Tliey are generally rather shy l:>irds, migrating in small families through 

 tlie woods, occasionally whistling in a loud and clear tone quite unlike other 

 jays. They have indeed much the habits and appearance of the titmice, 

 thouo-h so much larger, searching closely among the evergreens for seeds, 

 insects, etc., hanging head downwards and uttering a variety of quaint and 

 musical notes:* At times, especially in winter, they become very bold, en- 

 tering cabins in the woods, and following hunters to obtain scraps of meat 

 and fat of the game he may hang up, from which they have obtained one of 

 their names of " meat-bird." They are also called in the far North " Wliis- 

 key Jack," not from any fondness for liquor, liut from a corruption of their 

 Chippewa name of WisImcJion. (Suckley.) 



They are most numerous in the cold regions of the fur countries north of 

 lat. 49°, and do not migrate much even in that climate. According to 

 Hutchins, they in winter become so bold as to steal from the very dishes in 

 the hunter's camp. They lay up stores of berries, etc., in hollow trees, and 

 even are said to eat lichens. They are considered mockers and birds of ill 

 omen by the Indians, and are very noisy about the commencement of 

 storms. 



Their nests are built in pine-trees of twigs and grass, and their eggs, four 

 to six, are light grayish, with faint brown spots. (Nuttall.) The young for 

 the tirst autumn are nearly as black as crows. 



