NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS EGGS. 



233 



[Grayish.] 



484. Canada Jay. Perisoreus canadensis. 



Range. Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the 

 United States; west to the Rockies. 



This is the bird that is well known to hunters of "big 

 game" by various names such as "Whiskey Jack," ^S*. 



"Moose Bird," "Camp Robber," etc. During the win- 

 ter months, owing to the scarcity of food, their thieving 

 propensities are greatly enhanced and they remove 

 everything from the camps, which looks as though it 

 might be edible. Birds of this genus are smoky gray on 

 the back and lighter below, shading to white on the 

 throat; the forehead and part of the crown is white and 

 the nape blackish. Their nests are placed at low eleva- 

 tions in bushes or fir trees, and are usually very different from any of the pre- 

 ceding Jays' nests. They are nearly as high as wide, and are made of small 

 twigs, moss, catkins, weeds and feathers making a soft spongy mass which is 

 placed in an upright crotch. The eggs are a yellowish gray color spotted and 

 blotched with brown and grayish. Size 1.15 x .80. Data. Innisfail, Alberta, 

 March 12, 1903. Nest a beautiful structure of twigs, moss and feathers in a 

 willow bush, 6 feet from the ground. The thermometer registered 32 below zero 

 the day the eggs were taken. Collector, W. Blackwood. 



484a. Rocky Mountain Jay. Perisoreus canadensis capitalis. 



Range. Rocky Mountains from Montana to Arizona. 



This variety has the whole crown white and only a small amount of blackish 

 on the nape. Its nesting habits and eggs are precisely like those of the last. 



v 



NEST AND EGGS OF CANADA JAY SHOWING CONSTRUCTION. 



