235 



CORVIDyE. 



56. Canada Jay. Perisoreus Canadensis, Jj'inn. This bird is 

 common in the winter, and a great pest to the trappers, from its 

 propensity to steal their poisoned baits. Like the raven, it often 

 falls a victim to its greediness, by devouring meat containing 

 strychnine set for foxes and the fur-bearing animals. 



57. Blue Jay. Cyanocorax cristatus, Linn. Not common on 

 Portage Lake. 



58. American Magpie. Pica Hudsonica, Sabine. I have seen 

 a few specimens obtained near Eagle River. 



59. American Raven. Corvus cacalotl,Wix^\. Very common 

 at Portage Lake ; in the winter almost, if not entirely, to the 

 exclusion of the crow. 



60. American Crow. Corvus Americanus, Aud. Rare at 

 Portage Lake, but common on the Point and in the Ontonagon 

 district. 



STURNID^. 



• 6L Rusty Grrakle. Scokcophagus ferrugineus, Wils. Early 

 in the spring these birds arrive in immense flocks, and exceed- 

 ingly fat ; they remain till about the last of September. 



62. Cow Blackbird. Molothrus pecoris, Gmel. 



63. Red-winged Blackbird. Agelaius phoeniceus, Linn. 



64. Bob-o'-link, (doubtful.) Dolichonyx oryzivorus, Linn. 



FRINGILLID^. 



65. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Guiraca ludoviciana, Linn. 



66. American Goldfinch. Fringilla tristis, Linn. 



67. Lesser Red-poll. Fringilla linaria, Linn. These birds 

 are seen in flocks of twenty or thirty all through the winter, in 

 the woods near the lake and in the beaten roads, in company 

 frequently with the snow-birds. They show a singular propen- 

 sity to pick in snow stained by human urine ; though the roads 

 be full of the dung of cattle containing oats and pieces of corn, 

 the linnets I have always seen in crowds about the spots in the 

 snow discolored from the above cause ; whether this habit was 

 from a desire to obtain fluid at a season when the snow does not 

 melt even at mid-day, or some of the elements of this secretion, 



