140 CANADA JAY. 



tially, an extent of country stretching upwards of seventy degrees from 

 east to west, and more than thirty degrees from north to south ; though, 

 from local circumstances, there may be intermediate tracts in this 

 immense range, which they seldom visit. 



Species VII. C0R7US CANADENSIS. 



CANADA JAY. 



[Plate XXI. Fig. 1.] 



Linn. Sijst. 158.— Cinereous Croio, Arct. Zool. p. 248, No. 137.— Latham, i., 389.— 



Le Geay Brun de Canada, Brisson, ii., 54. — Buffon, hi. 117. 



• 



Were I to adopt the theoretical reasoning of a celebrated French 

 naturalist, I migh* pronounce this bird to be a debased descendant from 

 the common Blue Jay of the United States, degenerated by the influ- 

 ence of the bleak and chilling regions of Canada ; or perhaps a spurious 

 prodiiction, between the Blue Jay and the Cat-bird ; or what would be 

 more congenial to the Count's ideas, trace its degradation to the circum- 

 stance of migrating, some thousand years ago, from the genial shores 

 of Europe, where nothing like degeneracy or degradation ever takes 

 place among any of God's creatures. I shall, however, on the present 

 occasion, content myself with stating a few particulars better supported 

 by facts, and more consonant to the plain homespun of common sense. 



This species inhabits the country extending from Hudson's Bay, and 

 probably farther north, to the river St. Lawrence ; also in winter the 

 inland parts of the disti-ict of Maine, and northern tracts of the states 

 of Vermont and New York. When the season is very severe, with deep 

 snow, they sometimes advance farther south ; but generally return 

 northward as the weather becomes more mild. 



The character given of this bird by the people of those parts of the 

 country where it inhabits, is, that it feeds on black moss, worms, and 

 even flesh ; — when near habitations or tents, pilfers everything it can 

 come at — is bold, and comes even into the tent to eat meat out of the 

 dishes ; watches the hunters while baiting their traps for martens, and 

 devours the bait as soon as their backs are turned ; that they breed 

 early in spring, building their nests on pine trees, forming them of sticks 

 and grass, and lay blue eggs ; that they have two, rarely three young 

 at a^ime, which are at first quite black, and continue so for some time ; 

 that they fly in pairs ; lay up hoards of berries in hollow trees ; are 

 seldom seen in January, unless near houses ; are a kind of Muck-bird ; 

 and when caught pine away, though their appetite never fails them ; 



