CANADA JAY. 323 
a few particulars better supported by facts, and more consonant 
to the plain homespun of common sense. 
This species inhabits the country extending from Hudson’s 
Bay, and probably farther north, to the river St Lawrence . 
also, in winter, the inland parts of the district of Maine, and 
northern tracts of the states of Vermont and New York. 
When the season is very severe, with deep snow, they' some- 
times advance farther south ; but generally return northward 
as the weather becomes more mild. 
The character given of this bird by the people of those parts 
of the country where it inhabits, is, that it feeds on black 
moss, worms, and even flesh ; when near habitations or tents, 
pilfers every thing it can come at ; is bold, and comes even 
into the tent, to eat meat out of the dishes; watches the 
hunters while baiting their traps for martens, and devours the 
bait as soon as their backs are turned ; that they breed early 
in spring, building their nests on pine trees, forming them of 
sticks and grass, and lay blue eggs ; that they have two, rarely 
three, young at a time, which are at first quite black, and 
continue so for some time ; that they fly in pairs ; lay up 
hoards of berries in hollow trees ; are seldom seen in January, 
unless near houses ; are a kind of Mock Bird ; and, when 
caught, pine away, though their appetite never fails them : 
notwithstanding all which ingenuity and good qualities, they 
are, as we are informed, detested by the natives. # 
The only individuals of this species that I ever met with in 
the United States were on the shores of the Mohawk, a short 
way above the Little Falls. It was about the last of November, 
when the ground was deeply covered with snow. There were 
three or four in company, or within a small distance of each 
other, flitting leisurely along the roadside, keeping up a kind 
of low chattering with one another, and seemed nowise appre- 
hensive at my approach. I soon secured the whole ; from the 
best of which the drawing in the plate was carefully made. On 
* Hearne’s Journey , p. 405. 
