72 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



black, streaked with white ; fore-neck shading into 

 bluish grey, indistinctly streaked with whitish ; 

 remainder of under surface redder than the back, and 

 of a purer vinaceous tint ; under wing-coverts greyish 

 black. Female not differentiated ; doubtless with 

 shorter bill. Hab., Himalayas. 



Jerdon observes ("Birds of India," Vol. II., p. 308) : 

 " Hutton says that it is one of the commonest birds of 

 the hills about Simla, usually appearing in small parties 

 of five or six. It breeds in May and June. The nest 

 is made of twigs, roots, and fibres, loosely put together. 

 The eggs, three or four in number, are greenish stone- 

 grey, freckled, chiefly at the larger end, with dusky, 

 and a few black hair-like streaks not always present." 



Four examples of this Jay reached the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in 1879, and others arrived at the same 

 time in the Amsterdam Gardens ; Miss Hagenbeck had 

 a pair in 1884, and in 1885 and 1893 the Berlin Gardens 

 secured specimen.-. 



CANADA JAY (Perisoreus canadensis). 



Above dull grey, brownish on the mantle ; primaries 

 blackish ; some of the coverts and the secondaries nar- 

 rowly white-tipped ; tail more slate-grey than black, 

 and white-tipped ; nasal bristles and front of crown 

 whitish slightly washed with brown and passing from 

 grey to black on hind crown and nape ; orbital plumes 

 streaked with blackish ; sides of head, neck and throat 

 white ; under parts greyish-brown, whiter on vent ; 

 under wing-coverts greyish ; bill and feet black ; irides 

 dark brown. Female smaller than male. Hab, Canada, 

 Maine, Labrador, to the Yukon. (Sharpe.) 



T. G. Cooper ("Ornithology of California," Vol. I., 

 p. 308) says: "They are generally rather shy birds, 

 migrating in small families through the woods, occa- 

 sionlly whistling in a loud and clear tone quite unlike 

 other Jays. They have, indeed, much the habits and 

 appearance of the Titmice, though 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, espe- 

 cially in winter, they become very bold, entering 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 'Whisky 

 Jack,' not from any fondness for liquor, but from a 

 corruption of their Chippewa name of Wiskachon. 

 (Suckley.) 



" They are most numerous in the cold regions of the 

 far countries north of lat. 49 deg., and do not migrate 

 mucn even in that climate. According to Hutchings, 

 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 ecrcrs, four to six. are light greyish, with 

 faint ibrown spots. (Xuttall.) The young for the first 

 autumn are nearly as black as Crows." 



Ru?s says that, in the course of years this interest- 

 ing bird is occasionally offered for sale by the whole- 

 sale dealers. The London Gardens first received it 

 in 1867; both Russ and the Zoological Society con- 

 found it with the allied Siberian species P. infauln-<. 



BLVE JAY (Cyanocitta rristata). 



Above dull greyieh-violaceou: -blue ; greater wing 

 coverts, secondaries, and tail feathers, excepting the 

 middle pair, bright azure Mue, tipped with white and 



barred with black ; primaries bright azure externally, 

 the outer ones paler and partly edged with greyish ; 

 central tail feathers without white tips, and the outer- 

 most feathers without bars; crown and crest lilacine 

 greyish-blue, frontal feathers sometimes with pale or 

 whitish tips ; nasal bristles, sides of head and throat 

 lilacine whitish, with black shaft-lines ; a black collar 

 on the nape, passing in a line behind the ear coverts 

 down the sides of neck to join a broad crescent ic patch 

 across the chest ; a narrow frontal band, the lores and a 

 narrow line behind the eye, black ; breast, sides and 

 flanks smoky grey ; abdomen, vent, and under tail 

 coverts white ; under wing-coverts Mack, washed with 

 purplish blue externally ; tips of median coverte and a 

 spot on the edge of the wing white ; bill and feet black ; 

 irides brown. Female rather smaller, and with a dis- 

 tinctly shorter bill, which, when viewed in profile, is 

 noticeably deeper. Hab., North America. 



Major Bendire (" Life Histories of North American 

 Birds," Vol. II., pp. 356-360) save: "The Blue Jay, 

 one of our best-known birds, is a resident, and breeds 

 throughout the greater portion of its range, but is 

 usually only a summer visitor in the Northern part* of 

 the United States and southern Canada, though even 

 there some are occasionallv found in mid-winter in suit- 

 able localities where beech nuts and acorns, on which 

 they principally subsist at such times, are abundant. 



" The notes uttered by the Blue Jay are quite varied. 

 The ordinary caM-note sounds like ' djiih, djiih,' and 

 again like ' kah, kith,' or ' peedunckle, peedunckle,' or 

 ' cable, cable.' I have also occasionally beard them 

 utter a shrill cry resembling that of the Peacock, like 

 ' piuh, piilh,' or 'tiuh, tiuh,' varied now and then to 

 a loud 'pa-ha, pa-ha.' Occasionallly, according to Mr. 

 Preston, it produces one like ' sid-lit, sid-lit,' elevating 

 and lowering the body in unison with this peculiar 

 musical effort. According to Dv. P. L. Hatch, in the 

 'Birds of Minnesota' (p. 262), 'it utters notes some- 

 what like " hilly-hilly-hilly," or " p'wilhilly-p'whilly," 

 followed in a minute afterwards by " hweeo-hweeo- 

 hweeo," or "chillce-chillce-chillce," after which comes a 

 soft, sweet, metallic note, filled with a sad pathos.' 



" While ordinarily a noisy bird, the careful listener 

 may occasionally be treated to quite a pleasing effort 

 at singing or warbling. Ite remarkable powers of 

 mimicry have often been commented on, and it is 

 astonishing how accurately the Blue Jay is able to 

 imitate the various calls, alarm notes, and' cries of dis- 

 tress of other birds, and of many mammals as well. 

 These will readily deceive anyone, and the Blue Jay 

 seems to delight in playing tricks on its unsuspecting 

 neighbours in this manner, apparently out of pure mis- 

 chief. They are especially fond of teasing Owls, and 

 occasionally Hawks also, but sometimes with disastrous 

 results to themselves. While in the woods, they are 

 comparatively safe; but if one ventures into the open, 

 and the Hawk should get tired of its tormentor and turn 

 on him. the consequences are usually serious for the 

 Blue Jay. His flight is laborious, and accomplished 

 only with a good deal of flapping of the wings. He is 

 no match for our smaller Hawks, and even a King-bird 

 never fails to attack a Blue Jay most vigorously should 

 it chance to cat oh one while flying from one wood to 

 another or come anywhere in the vicinity of its nesting 

 site. The Blue Jay knows this, and stays therefore as 

 in<uch as possible in the timber. They are usually found 

 about the edges of clearings, and not infrequently nest 

 in close proximity to houses, where, if not molested, 

 thev become very tame and are soon perfectly at home. 



" Their food consists of all sorts of animal matter, 

 offal, insects, grasshoppers, grubs, worms, mice, etc., 

 and, when procurable, the eggs and young of smaller 



