PERISOKEUS CANADENSIS. 167 



guarding the locality which they have chosen as homes. At times the Jays become very 

 familiar, approaching the houses on the edges of settlements in order to pick the bones 

 which are thrown about or will even venture to cat the meat hung close to the hunters 

 camp. 



GENUS IV. PERISOREUS. THE GRAY JAYS. 



I! EX. Cn. Dill, stout and conical, much shorter than the head which is semi-crested. Wings, longer than the tail which 

 ix wrli r/mntlcil. Size, medium. 



The principal colors are gray throughout. The feathers are cf that peculiar loose structure seen in the Titmouse, giving 

 the birds a downy appearance. 



PERISOREUS CANADENSIS. 



Canada Jay. 

 Perisoreus Canadensis BON. List; 1838. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Si>. Cn. Form, robust. Siza, medium. Feathers of semi-crest, very downy. Tongue, broad, thin and horny, bifid, 

 and provided with coarse cilia which extend along the sides. 



COLOR. Adult. Alxive, ashy-plumbeous, with the top of the head and neck, yellowish-white, crossed by a nauchal 

 band of plumhrnus. The secondaries and tail are slightly tipped with whitish. Beneath, grayish, lighter on the throat 

 and dusky posteriorly. Under wing coverts, plumbeous. Bill and feet, black. 



Young. Not nearly as light about the head as in the adult, and they are duller below, while there is n slight indica- 

 tion of a dusky line through the eye. 



Nest/inys. Verydusky throughout with little or no white on the head. There isalso a well-defined dusky line through 

 the eye. The throat is also dusky. Sexes, similar in all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



There is a noticeable similarity in plumage in si>eeimens of the same age and sex butsome are a little lighter below than 

 thixe which I have described. Distributed throughout Northern North America, coming into Northern United States, 

 especially in winter. 



DIMENSIONS. 



.\\cragc measurements of five specimens from New Hampshire. Length, 12 - 00; stretch, 17'45; wing,5'75; tail 5-75; 

 bill, '80; tarsus, 1-65. Longest specimen, 12'10; greatest extent of wing, 17'50; longest wing, 5'50; tail, G'OO; bill, '85; 

 tarsus, 1.70. Shortest specimen, 11'25; smallest extent of wing, 17'00; shortest wing, 5 - 60; tail, 5'70; bill, '75; tarsus, T52. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, built in trees, composed of sticks moss and grass, lined with fine roots. Dimensions, external diameter, 6MK), 

 internal, 3-50. External depth, 4'00; internal, 2'00. 



Rjijs , five to six in number, oval in form , pale gray in color, spotted and blotched with brown. Dimensions from 1 '05 x 

 55 M l'25x-<JO. 



HABITS. 



There is a great contrast in the country inhabited by the bird which we now have un- 

 der consideration and the one last described. The home of the Florida Jay is in a land 

 where frosts are seldom known and where snow never falls, aland of almost perpetual sun- 

 shine where the flowers bloom throughout the year. The Canada Jays inhabit the gloomy 

 evergreen forests of the North, where the thick branches of the giant hemlocks and spruces 

 exclude the sunlight and the short summer passes so quickly that vegetation has but little 

 time to advance, while for a greater portion of the year the Ice King reigns supreme. 



It was in the primitive forests of Northern New Hampshire, that I first met with 

 the Canada Jay. This was on the third of November, 18C8, and there had been a heavy 



