SNYDER. 
173 
the Canada Jays, (Perisoreus canadensis,) a pair of them. 
Such fluffy, bunched up birds, which looked like feather 
balls when they flew from tree to tree. They were not in the 
least afraid of us, and only flew a few feet at a time. They 
posed for us in as many different attitudes, and as willingly, 
as a society girl before the camera. We saw them plainly 
and have not the least doubt of their identity. But one friend 
said, “I would like to see your Canada Jays stuffed’ ’ and the 
inference was that then she would believe. Other friends said 
“ Shrikes,” but had this been so would there have been 
kinglets in the same trees calling out their fine “ ti—ti — ti- 
tiV ’ Would nuthatches have been “yankling” in a neigh¬ 
boring dead pine? And would a downy woodpecker have 
kept at his hammering so unconcernedly in the presence 
of this deadly foe ? The late lamented bird collection 
owned by the Institute contained a specimen of Perisoreus 
canadensis shot near Bedford some years ago, and to it we 
went later for verification of our morning’s discovery. We 
obtained what we wanted, and were told by an onlooker 
that he had had these Jays reported from Concord. Hard¬ 
ly had we put the specimen back in the case and locked 
him up there for safety and future generations when the 
fire alarm rang, and soon the Jay, his case, his rooms and 
his very house were consumed in the flames, and for aught 
I know his ashes may be in the dust which the west wind 
is blowing through the cracks of my rattling window this 
very moment. 
Snow buntings (Plectrophenaxnivalis) on January 12th, 
at least one hundred and twenty, rewarded us for a cold 
drive over the newly fallen snow. Snyder stopped just op¬ 
posite them, and not over twenty feet away. The birds 
rolled around in the light snow, they dived in it, making 
it fly in their fun ; they chased each other, now on foot, 
now in the air, and acted altogether like a company of child¬ 
ren bathing in the surf. Then they all flew off in a whirl 
