FAMILY Corvldx. 



Canada Jay Wilson says of this bird: "Were I to 



/>rzl 8 oreu aCk ad P t the theoretical reasoning of a cele- 

 canadln#L brated French naturalist, I might )>n>- 

 L. 12.00 Inches nounce this bird a debased descendant 

 All the year from the common Blue Jay of the United 

 States." But he probably knew, if he did that, his 

 powers of discrimination would be open to criticism. 

 There is scarcely a mark of similarity between the 

 two species, except as they are ornithologically con- 

 sidered. The Canada Jay is costumed in Quaker- 

 gray, dull-white, and black. Back of the head sooty 

 black; back gray; throat and sides of the neck dull 

 white; forehead white; wings and tail gray, with 

 many of the feathers white-tipped; under parts warm 

 gray. Female similar. The plumage is thick and un- 

 kempt-looking, resembling, in a measure, that of the 

 Chickadee. Nest of coarse twigs and bark-fibre, gen- 

 erally lodged well up in a spruce or some other conifer- 

 ous tree. Egg white, irregularly speckled with madder 

 brown. The bird is decidedly boreal, and is found only 

 from northern New England and New York to northern 

 Minnesota, which are the southern limits of its range. 



The notes of the Canada Jay are very similar to those 

 of the Blue Jay; most of them are harsh or discordant, 

 and many have a peculiar wailing character which dis- 

 tinctly separates them from the rather sprightly tones 

 of the handsomer cousin. My only experience with 

 these birds has been on the summits of the White Moun- 

 tains, where they are far from uncommon. They are 

 naturally the inhabitants of the great coniferous forests 

 of the North, and are frequent visitors of the lumber 

 camps, where by their sociable habits and fearlessness 

 they become very friendly with the lumbermen, often 

 feeding from their hands. On the summit of Mt. Os- 

 ceola, in Waterville, N. H., on more than one occasion 

 the Canada Jay has taken pieces of bread from my fin- 

 gers. I have never taken any memoranda of his notes, 

 as they were too unmusical to deserve attention; be- 

 sides, he is a bird easily identified by his environment. 



