Photo i>\ (.ciiiyc Shiras, 3rd 
THE ALASKA (?) OR CANADA JAY: THIJ MOST TYPICAL NON-GAMK BIRD OF THK 
NORTHERN WILDERNESS 
The above is a photograph of a non-migratory and Northern jay, taken on Skilak Lake, 
and which, as a species, is indigenous to the upper wilderness from Newfoundland to Bering 
Sea and southwardly to the lower provinces and most of the border States. While tame and 
fearless to a degree toward casual visitors, it dislikes and avoids permanent human habita- 
tions, single or collective. It is a bird, too, of many local names — whiskey jack, moose bird, 
camp robber, and meat bird. Originally classified as the Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis), 
the effort now to differentiate the Alaska bird, on a minor if not a variable color phase, is 
regarded as a mistake by most lovers of the North woods. If there is any bird on the Ameri- 
can continent of similarly extended distribution and localized environment which retains a 
greater and more remarkable uniformity in color, size, shape, habits, basic notes, diet, and 
disposition, the writer is ignorant of such. The sub-species, Labrador jay, ought to be the 
limit in this direction. 
The clear, warm weather, with an 
unusual amount of winter snow remain- 
ing on the mountain ranges, had caused 
the river to overflow its banks. The 
rapid current now luade it possible to 
cover the i6 miles to the lake in a few 
hours, and this condition had prevented 
any boat coming upstream for several 
weeks. It may be stated in advance that 
the hot weather continued until the first 
week in September, and so, on our re- 
turn, it required four days of the hardest 
432 
