

OF NEW ENGLAND. 269 



beneath. Head, and tips of tail and certain wing-feathers, 

 dull white ; but hind-head very dark. 



(6). A nest of the Canada Jay, found by Mr. Boardman, 

 and described by Dr. Brewer, " is woven above a rude platform 

 of sticks and twigs crossed and interlaced, furnishing a roughly 

 made hemispherical base and periphery. Upon this an inner 

 and more artistic nest has been wrought, made of a soft felting 

 of fine mosses closely impacted and lined with feathers." An 

 egg in my collection measures 1*20 X "75 of an inch, and is 

 grayish, evenly marked with brown. Unlike other specimens, 

 it is green-tinted. 



(c). The Canada Jays do not much inhabit New England, so 

 far as I know, except in Northern Maine, where they are resi- 

 dent. As Audubon has apparently had many opportunities of 

 observing these birds, I shall here quote his biography nearly in 

 full, as I have already quoted one of Wilson's. " I have found 

 this species of Jay," says Audubon, " breeding in the State of 

 Maine, where many individuals belonging to it reside the whole 

 year, and where in fact so many as fifteen or twenty may be 

 seen in the course of a day by a diligent person anxious to 

 procure them. In the winter, their numbers are constantly 

 augmented by those which repair to that country from places 

 farther North. They advance to the southward as far as the 

 upper parts of the State of New York, where the person who 

 first gave intimation to Mr. WILSON that the species was to be 

 found in the Union, shot seven or eight one morning, from 

 which number he presented one to the esteemed author of the 

 1 American Ornithology,' who afterwards procured some in the 

 same neighborhood. This species is best known in Maine by 

 the name of the ' Carrion-bird,' which is usually applied to it 

 on account of its carnivorous propensities. When their appe- 

 tite is satisfied, they become shy, and are in the habit of hiding 

 themselves amongst close woods or thickets ; but when hungry, 

 they show no alarm at the approach of man, nay, become fa- 

 miliar, troublesome, and sometimes so very bold as to enter 

 the camps of the * lumberers,' or attend to rob them of the bait 

 affixed to their traps. My generous friend, EDWARD HARRIS, 



