CROWS, JAYS, ETC. ttS 



a large hole in a keg of castile soap. A duck, which I had 

 picked and laid down for a few minutes, had the entire 

 breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have 

 seen one alight in the middle of my canoe and peck away 

 at the carcass of a beaver I had skinned. They often 

 spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys. 

 They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait 

 from traps set for martens and minks and by eating trapped 

 game. They will sit quietly and see you build a log trap 

 and bait it, and then, almost before your back is turned, 

 you hear their hateful ca-ca-ca as they glide down and 

 peer into it. They will work steadily carrying off meat 

 and hiding it. I have thrown out pieces and watched one 

 to see how much he would carry off. He flew across a wide 

 stream, and in a short time looked as bloody as a butcher 

 from carrying huge pieces; but his patience held out longer 

 than mine. I think one would work as long as JNIark 

 Twain's California jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin 

 with acorns through a knothole in the roof. They are fond 

 of the berries of the mountain-ash, and, in fact, few things 

 come amiss; I believe they do not possess a single good 

 quality except industry." 



Very few zoologists have been able to procure the eggs 

 of this hardy bird, because they are laid in February or 

 March when the snow is deep and travel through the forest 

 is laborious. A few persevering collectors have success- 

 fully hunted the nests on snow-shoes. The three or four 

 blue eggs, finely speckled with dark bro^\Ti, are deposited 

 in a large bulky nest made of stems, fur, feathers and moss, 

 warmly lined and placed among the thickest branches. 



