380 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
was less common than further up the Yukon. I saw one 15 miles 
above Fort Yukon, heard several at Hendrick’s Station, August 
25th, and saw one at St. Michael, September, 18th. (Bzshop.) 
BreEDING Notes.—Toward spring the jays became remarkably 
reclusive, and their visits around camp were less and less fre- 
quent. I suspected that by the middle of March they would 
nest, and I consequently spent much time in fruitless search. On 
the 2oth of March, while out snowshoeing across the valley, I 
happened to see a pair of jays flying towards a tract of spruces, 
and as had become almost habitual with me under such incentive, 
I followed them up. I did not see the birds for some time, until 
finally Isaw a jay with alarge bunch of white down in its bill, 
flying back along the timber. The other bird was accompanying 
it, following a little behind. I lost sight of them among the dis- 
tant trees, but by following the general course of their flight and 
peering into all the thicker spruces I chanced to discover the nest. 
It was ten feet above the snow in adense young spruce growing 
among a clump of taller ones ona knoll. It was as yet a flimsy 
affair, consisting of dry spruce twigs, with bits of down and feath- 
ers showing through from beneath. Although I did not disturb 
the nest in the least, a visit two weeks later found it covered with 
snow and apparently deserted. On April toth, among ten jays, 
secured about twenty miles down the Kowak from our winter 
camp, was one female, which contained in the oviduct, a full-sized 
though unshelled, egg. Not until May 13th, however, did I 
finally find an occupied jay’s nest, and its discovery then was by 
mere accident. It was twelve feet up in a small spruce amongst 
a clump of larger ones on a low ridge. There were no “tell-tale 
sticks and twigs on the snow beneath,” as Nelson notes, and in 
fact nothing to indicate its location. The nest rested on several 
horizontal or slightly drooping branches against the south side of 
the main trunk. The foliage around it was moderately dense, so 
that it could be seen from the ground, though only as an indistinct 
dark spot. The bird was sitting on her nest when I discovered it. 
Her head and tail appeared conspicuously over the edge of the 
nest, and she remained on until I had climbed up within an arm’s 
length of her. She then left the nest and silently flew to a near-by 
tree where she was joined by her mate. They both remained in 
the vicinity, but ostensibly paid little attention tome. They 
followed each other about playfully, uttering low conversational 
notes. The male would try to approach the female, vibrating his 
