Chap. 3. 



BIRDS OF VERMONT. 



73 



THE CANADA JAY. 



THE C III C A DEE. 



TflK IIUDSIJN BAY TITMOUSE. 



fibrous roots, is built in trees. The eggs 

 are 4 or 5, of a dull white color, spotted 



with brown. 



THE CANADA JAY. 

 Corvvs canadensis. — Linn. 



Description. General color, dark 



leaden gray ; hind head black ; forehead, 

 collar beneath, and tip of the tail brown- 

 ish white ; interior veins of the wings 

 brown and partly tipped with white ; bill 

 and legs black ; iris dark hazel ; pkunage 

 of the head loose and prominent; tail 

 long and wedge-shaped. Sc.xes alike in 

 color. Length 11 inches ; spread, 1.5. 

 — Nvttall. 



History. — Thisjay, which is called in 

 some places the JVhiskeij Jach,a.nd in others 

 the Carrion Bird., inhabits principally be- 

 tween the 44th and 65th parallels of 

 north latitude. It is found in the state of 

 Maine, and in the north parts of New 

 Hampshire, Vermont and New York, but 

 is seldom seen further to the southward. 

 It breeds in each of the states above nam- 

 ed. The nest is usually placed in the 

 thick top of a spruce or fir, at the height 

 off) or 8 feet from the ground. It is pla- 

 ced near the trunk of the tree, and is 

 made of twigs and fibrous roots, lined 

 with moss and grass. The eggs are from 

 4 to 6, of a light gray color, faintly mark- 

 ed with brown. They feed, during the 

 summer, upon worms and insects, and, 

 during the winter, they are driven by ne- 

 cessity to feed upon the bud."; and leaves 

 of spruce and fir. 



Genus Farus. — Linmcns. 

 Generic Characters.— Bill short,straight, 

 conic, compressed, enlire, edged and pointed, hav- 

 ing bristles at the base ; the upper mandible lon- 

 ger, rounded above and slightly curved ; nostrils 

 at the base of the bill, rounded and concealed by 

 the advancing feathers ; tongue blunt and cleft or 

 entire, and acute ; feet rather large, toes almost 

 wholly divided ; the nail of tlie hind toe strongest, 

 and most curved; fourth and tiflli primaries longest. 

 The female and youn^ dilTer but liiile from the 

 adult male. Moult, annual; plumage, lon<j and 

 slender. 



THE CHICADEE. 

 Parus atricapilius . — Linn. 

 Description. — The whole upper part 

 of the head, nape, chin and throat, velvet 

 Pt. I. 10 



black; a white line from the nostril pass- 

 ing beneath the eye, spreads out upon 

 the side of the neck; back ash color; 

 quill and tail feathers brownish black, 

 edged with grayish white ; belly brown- 

 ish white, deepening into brownish yel- 

 low upon the sides and beneath the tail ; 

 bill black; legs and feet bluish; fifth 

 (juill feather longest; fourth and sixth 

 nearly as long ; tail long and rounded. 

 Length 5^ inches, tail 2^ ; folded wing 

 2.7, spread of the wings 6|. 



History. — The Chicadee, or Black- 

 cap Titmouse, seems to be common 

 through the whole continent, from iMex- 

 ico to the G5tli degree of north latitude. 

 They rear their young in all parts of the 

 United States. For that purpose they take 

 possession of the hollow of a decayed tree 

 or of the deserted holes of the wood- 

 pecker, or where these are not to be 

 had they excavate a cavity for themselves 

 in some rotten stub of a tree. The ma- 

 terials of which the nest is composed, ac- 

 cording to Audubon, vary in diflerent dis- 

 tricts, but are generally the hair of quad- 

 rupeds in considerable quantities, and 

 disposed in the shape of a loose bag or 

 purse lining the inside of the excavation, 

 while otliers have said that witjiout 

 constructing any nest, they lay their 

 eggs, usually 6 or 8, upon the dry rotten 

 wood at the bottom of the cavity. The 

 eggs are white, with specks of brownish 

 red. This industrious little bird resem- 

 bles the wood-peckers in many of its hab- 

 its, running round upon the trunks and 

 limbs of the trees with the greatest ease, 

 frequently with its back dov^nward, while 

 searching for its food. Late in the fall, 

 they may be seen in considerable numbers 

 about our orchards and shade trees, and 

 they doubtless render essential service by 

 destroying the eggs and larvie of insects 

 which have been de])osited in the crevi- 

 ces of the bark, to be hatched the next 

 spring 



THE HUDSON BAY TITMOUSE. 

 Parus hiid^^onicus. — Lath. 



Description. — General color dull lead- 

 en, tinged with a light brown ; head um- 

 ber brown ; throat and fore neck black, 

 v.ith a band of white under each eye ; 

 breast and belly grayish white, sides light 

 yellowish brown. Bill black, short, 

 straight, slightly convex and acutely poin- 

 ted ; iris dark brown ; feet lead color. 

 Length 5 inches, spread 7. Female re- 

 sembles the male, but the colors are dul- 

 ler. — Audubon. 



History. — This species is much less 

 common in Vermont than the prccedino-j 



