THE CANADA JAY. 
kind of trap. My friend, the Rev. John Bachman, informed me that when 
residing in the State of New York, he found one caught in a snare which 
had been set with many others for the common Partridge or “ Quail,” one 
of which the Jay had commenced eating before he was himself caught. 
In the winter they are troublesome to the hunters, especially when the 
ground is thickly covered with snow, and food consequently scarce, for, at 
such a time, they never meet with a Deer or a Moose hung on a tree, with- 
out mutilating it as much as in their power. In the Bay of Fundy I 
observed, several mornings in succession, a Canada Jay watching the 
departure of a Crow from her nest, after she had deposited an egg. When 
the Crow flew off, the cunning Jay immediately repaired to the nest, and 
carried away the egg. I have heard it said that the Canada Jay some- 
times destroys the young of other birds of its species, for the purpose of 
feeding its own with them ; but not having witnessed such an act, I cannot 
vouch for the truth of the report, which indeed appears to me too mon- 
strous to be credited. 
I have often been delighted by the sight of their graceful movements on 
alighting after removing from one tree to another, or while flying across a 
road or a piece of water. They have an odd way of nodding their head, 
and jerking their body and tail, while they emit their curiously diversified 
notes, which at times resemble a low sort of mewing, at others the sound 
given out by an anvil lightly struck with a hammer. They frequently 
alight about the middle of a tree, and hop with airy grace from one branch 
to another until they reach the very top, when they remove to another tree ; 
and thus proceed through the woods. Their flight resembles that of the 
Blue Jay, although I do not consider it quite so firm or protracted. 
The Canada Jay breeds in Maine, in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, New 
foundland, and Labrador. It begins so early as February or March to 
form its nest, which is placed in the thickest part of a fir tree, near the 
trunk, and at a height of from five to ten feet. The exterior is composed 
of dry twigs, with moss and grass, and the interior, which is flat, is formed 
of fibrous roots. The eggs, which are from four to six, are of a light gi*ey 
colour, faintly marked with brown. Only one brood is raised in the season. 
I found the young following their parents on the 27th of June, 1833, at 
Labrador, where I shot both old and young, while the former was in the 
act of feeding the latter. 
The young, which was fully fledged, had no white about the head ; the 
whole plumage was of a very deep slate colour, approaching to black, except- 
ing the ends of the tail feathers, which were of a sullied white, the lower 
mandible almost white. The bill was (of course) shorter than that of the 
old bird, more dilated at the base, the bristles there proportionally shorter. 
