CANADA JAY. 209 



with its head retracted and the phimage of the body very loose. Its 

 voice is plaintive and squeaking ; though it occasionally makes a low 

 chattering, especially when agitated by the prospect of a supply of 

 food. It hoards berries, pieces of meat, &c. in hollow trees, or between 

 layers of the bark of decaying birches, by which it is enabled to pass 

 the winter in comfort, and to rear its young before the snow is off the 

 ground, and indeed earlier than any other in the Fur Countries. Its 

 nest is concealed with such care, that none of the Indians with whom 

 I spoke on the subject had seen it ; but both Hutchins and Hearne 

 inform us, that ' it is generally built in a fir tree, of sticks and grass ; 

 the eggs are blue ; and the young brood, which are quite black, take to 

 flight by the middle of May.'" 



Now, to my eye, the Canada Jay is as elegant in its movements, 

 whether perched or on wing, as any other of our Jays, although its 

 apparel is certainly very homely. It is joyous and lively at all times, 

 even when, pushed by extreme hiinger, it approaches the lonely camp 

 of the traveller, with the hope of obtaining a share, however small, of 

 his perhaps scanty fare. 



Its range is very extensive, as I have specimens procured by Dr 

 TowNSEND on the Columbia River, and it has been observed by Dr 

 Richardson as far northward as lat. 65°. The former of these natu- 

 ralists states that he found " these birds at the site of Old Fort Astoria, 

 on the Columbia River. They were very noisy and active ; the voice 

 is strong and harsh. The Indians however say, that they are rarely 

 seen, and that they do not breed hereabouts." Mr Titian Peale 

 has obtained it in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, and I have the 

 body of one procured there by himself in October 1836. 



The description given in the Fauna Boreali- Americana of the in- 

 dividual there represented, agrees in all respects with that of the bird 

 now before you, which, as I have said in my second volume, / saw fed 

 several times by its parent the Canada Jay. The difi'erences pointed out 

 as specifically distinctive are merely such as are presented by young 

 and old birds of many species. 



CoEvus Canadensis, Linn. Lath., &c. 

 GARauLrs Canadensis, Swainson., &c. 



Gahrultjs bhachyrhynchus, Richards, and Swains. Faiiua Bor.-Amer., vol. ii. 

 p. 296. Young. 



VOL. V. O 



