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THE CANADA JAY. 



-f-GARRULus Canadensis, Linn. 

 PLATE CCXXXIV.— Male, Female, and Young. 



I have found this species of Jay breeding in the State of Maine, where 

 many individuals belonging to it reside the whole year, and where in fact so 

 many as fifteen or twenty may be seen in the course of a day by a diligent 

 person anxious to procure them. In the winter, their numbers are con- 

 stantly augmented by those which repair to that country from places farther 

 north. They advance to the southward as far as the upper parts of the State 

 of New York, where the person who first gave intimation to Mr. Wilson 

 that the species was to be found in the Union, shot seven or eight one morn- 

 ing, from which number he presented one to the esteemed author of the 

 "American Ornithology," who afterwards procured some in the same neigh- 

 bourhood. This species is best known in Maine by the name of the 

 "Carrion-bird," which is usually applied to it on account of its carnivorous 

 propensities. When their appetite is satisfied, they become shy, and are in 

 the habit of hiding themselves amongst close woods or thickets; but when 

 hungry, they shew no alarm at the approach of man, nay, become familiar, 

 troublesome, and sometimes so very bold as to enter the camps of the 

 "lumberers," or attend to rob them of the bait affixed to their traps. My 

 generous friend, Edward Harris, Esq., of Moorestown, New Jersey, told 

 me that while fishing in a birch canoe on the lakes in the interior of the 

 State of Maine, in the latter part of the summer of 1833, the Jays were so 

 fearless as to alight in one end of his bark, while he sat in the other, and 

 help themselves to his bait, taking very little notice of him. 



The lumberers or wood-cutters of this State frequently amuse themselves 

 in their camp during their eating hours, with what they call "transporting 

 the carrion bird." This is done by cutting a pole eight or ten feet in length, 

 and balancing it on the sill of their hut, the end outside the entrance being- 

 baited with a piece of flesh of any kind. Immediately on seeing the tempt- 

 ing morsel, the Jays alight on it, and while they are busily engaged in 

 devouring it, a wood-cutter gives a smart blow to the end of the pole within 

 the hut, which seldom fails to drive the birds high in the air, and not unfre- 

 quently kills them. They even enter the camps, and would fain eat from 

 the hands of the men while at their meals. They are easily caught in any 



Vol. IV. 17 



