4 BLUE JAY. 



sometimes on an apple tree, lines it with dry fibrous roots, 

 and lays five eggs of a dull olive, spotted with brown. The 

 male is particularly careful of not being heard near the place, 

 making his visits as silently and secretly as possible. His 

 favourite food is chestnuts, acorns, and Indian-corn. He 

 occasionally feeds on bugs and caterpillars, and sometimes 

 pays a plundering visit to the orchard, cherry rows, and potato 

 patch ; and has been known, in times of scarcity, to venture 

 into the barn, through openings between the weather boards. 

 In these cases he is extremely active and silent, and, if sur- 

 prised in the fact, makes his escape with precipitation, but 

 without noise, as if conscious of his criminality. 



Of all birds, he is the most bitter enemy to the owl. No 

 sooner has he discovered the retreat of one of these, than he 



at work in the house. Another, at the approach of cattle, had learned 

 to hound a cur dog upon them, by whistling and calling upon him by 

 his name. At last, during a severe frost, the dog was, by that means, 

 excited to attack a cow big with calf, when the poor animal fell on the 

 ice, and was much hurt : the jay was complained of as a nuisance ; and 

 its owner was obliged to destroy it." They feed indiscriminately, and, 

 according to circumstances, on either animal or vegetable substances ; 

 plundering nests of their eggs and young, and even, in the more exposed 

 farmyards, disappointing the hopes of the mistress, in the destruction 

 of a favourite brood. They are also robbers of orchards and gardens 

 of their finest fruits ; but, when without the reach of these luxuries, 

 they will be content to satisfy their hunger with Nature's own produc- 

 tions, the wild berries or fruits and seeds of the forest and the field. 



Several new species have been added to the North American list, 

 some of which are described by the Prince of Musignano in our third 

 volume ; and, in addition, we may mention one new species, published 

 by Dr Richardson and Mr Swainson in the Arctic Zoology. The only 

 specimen brought home was killed on the roof of the dwelling-house at 

 Fort Franklin, and was so similar to the Canada jay, that it was not 

 then recognised as a distinct species. The chief distinctions mentioned 

 in the above work are the shorter bill, broader at the base, and nar- 

 rower on the ridge. The plumage looser than in G. Canadensis; the 

 secondaries proportionally longer, and all end in slender, but very dis- 

 tinct points, scarcely discernible in the blue jay, and not nearly so 

 much developed in the whisky -jack. Tail is shorter than the latter, 

 the tarsus is more robust. — Ed. 



