12G 
THE CANADA JAY. 
Quercus alba, Willd., Sp. PI., vol. iv. p. 429. Michaux, Arbr. Forest, de 
l’Amerique Sept., vol. ii. p. 13, pi. 1. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept., vol. ii. p. 
633. — Moncecia Polyandria, Linn . — Amentace/E, Juss. 
Leaves oblong, pinnatifido-sinuate, downy beneath, the lobes linear-lanceo- 
late, obtuse, attenuated at the base, entire on the margin ; the fruit pedun- 
culate, 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 gran- 
deur which it attains under favourable circumstances. I have often seen 
these oaks spreading their young branches amid the tops of magnolias fully 
one hundred feet above the ground, with stems from four to six feet in diame- 
ter ; 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 blasts 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 
