LAND BIRDS. 415 
late in winter and in earliest spring, the Blue Jay frequently utters a subdued 
and somewhat varied warble which is decidedly musical. More than once 
we have been on the point of passing a tree from which this sound issued 
under the belief that the author was a Pine Grosbeak, but after seeing the 
performer in the act we were able to note a decided difference in the songs 
of the two birds. Dr. Morris Gibbs has called our attention to the same 
song, and it has been reported by others. The bird is something of a 
ventriloquist and we believe it possesses considerable power of mimicry. 
Taken altogether, it is a bird of such strong character, and with so many 
good points, that in spite of its occasional forays on the eggs and young of 
other birds we should sorely miss it if exterminated. The present law, 
which places the Blue Jay among protected birds, is on the whole a wise one. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult (sexes alike): Forehead, spot in front of eye, crescent on chest continued into 
collar encircling the neck, deep black; top of head, including conspicuous crest, back, 
scapulars, rump and upper tail-coverts, bright blue without spots; upper surface of wings 
bright blue, the secondaries, tertiaries and coverts narrowly barred with black, the greater 
coverts, secondaries and tertiaries broadly tipped with pure white; tail-feathers blue, 
barred narrowly with black, all except the middle pair with deep white tips; throat grayish 
white, with a purplish tinge; breast and sides dusky gray; belly and under tail-coverts 
pure white; bill and feet black; iris dark brown. 
Young: Similar, but duller, the crest shorter and markings less sharply defined. 
Length 11 to 12.50 inches; wing 5 to 5.70; tail 5.05 to 5.70; culmen .93 to 1.06. 
192. Canada Jay. Perisoreus canadensis canadensis (Linn.). (484) 
Synonyms: Whiskey-jack, Whiskey-john, Moose Bird, Meat Bird, Grease Bird, Venison 
Bird, Camp Robber, Meat Hawk.—Corvus canadensis, Linn., 1766.—Garrulus canadensis, 
Nutt., Aud.—Garrulus fuscus, Vieill. 
Size of the Robin, dark gray above, lighter gray below, bleaching into 
whitish on forehead and crown and becoming almost black on the back 
of the head and neck. 
Distribution.—Northern New York, Northern New England, and 
Northern Michigan northward to Arctic America. 
A bird well known to deer hunters throughout the northern half of the 
Lower Peninsula, and in most of the Upper Peninsula, since it hangs about 
their camps, picking up refuse scraps thrown out by the cook and pecking 
at meat or game hung up outside. It often becomes perfectly fearless 
under such circumstances and is sometimes a great nuisance. Ordinarily, 
however, it is shy and not often seen, although its voice may be constantly 
heard both summer and winter. Probably it is resident over most of the 
territory where it is found, but it may be driven somewhat farther south in 
winter, and there are records of several southward movements of consider- 
able magnitude; the last of these, in the fall of 1904, extended southward in 
Ontario almost or quite to the city of Toronto. 
In Michigan the bird is rarely if ever seen south of the Saginaw-Grand 
Valley and must be considered decidedly rare except in the higher and more 
densely wooded regions of the northern half of the Lower Peninsula. 
Professor Cook’s statement that this species was seen 1n winter of 1893 
on the campus of the Agricultural College (Birds of Mich., 2d ed., 1893, 
p. 100) is doubtless a mistake since neither Professor Cook himself nor any 
, 
of his assistants has any recollection of the fact, and no one else has ever 
