12Q THE CANADA JAY. 



Q,uercus alba, Willd., Sp. PI., vol. iv. p. 429. Michaux, Arbr. Forest, de PAmerique 

 Sept., vol. ii. p. 13, pi. 1. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept., vol. ii. p. 633.— Moncecia Poly" 

 andria, Linn. — Amentace^;, Juss. 



Leaves oblong, pinnatifido-sinuate, downy beneath, the lobes linear-lanceo- 

 late, obtuse, attenuated at the base, entire on the margin; the fruit peduncu- 

 late, the cupule tubercular, flat at the base, cup-shaped, the acorn ovate. 

 Although this species of oak is not abundant in Maine, where the Canada 

 Jay chiefly occurs, I have employed it in my drawing, on account of the rich 

 colouring of its fine leaves during the autumnal months. It is in Louisiana, 

 where it is plentiful, that one must see it, to judge of the grandeur which it 

 attains under favourable circumstances. I have often seen these oaks spread- 

 ing their young branches amid the tops of magnolias fully one hundred feet 

 above the ground, with stems from four to six feet in diameter, to the height 

 of fifty or more feet, straight as a line, and without a branch to that height. 

 When left in fields, their tops, naturally inclined to spread, render their 

 aspect majestic; and one is tempted to try to calculate the many years these 

 noble trees have stood against the blast of the tempest. The wood, which 

 is of excellent quality, being hard and durable, is applied to numerous uses. 

 Its distribution is very extensive in the United States, it being found in 

 the forests from Louisiana to Massachusetts, and in the western countries 

 beyond the Mississippi. 



Genus IV.— NUCIFRAGA, Briss. NUTCRACKER. 



Bill as long as the head, moderately stout, conical, compressed, at the tip 

 rather depressed; upper mandible with its dorsal line slightly arcuato-decli- 

 nate, the ridge convex, the sides rounded, the edges sharp and overlapping, 

 without notch, the tip flattened and obtuse; lower mandible with the angle 

 short and rounded, the dorsal line straight, the sides convex, the edges 

 sharpened a little involute, the tip flattened and rather obtuse. Nostrils 

 basal, lateral, roundish, covered by bristly feathers, which are directed for- 

 wards. Head large, broadly ovate, neck rather short; body moderately 

 stout. Tarsus rather short, compressed, with eight scutella; toes stout, the 



