BIRDS——-CORVIDA. 
small birds in their assault upon a belated owl, himself the noisest of 
the crowd; but no sooner does the unfortunate owl find a quiet retreat 
than our hero quickly disperses his army by imitating the cries of the 
Sparrow-hawk, and not seldom taking advantage of the confusion to 
plunder a nest. In this vicinity, for several years past, they have been 
less numerous than twenty years ago, but have apparently increased in 
numbers the past two or three years. 
The nest of the Jay is built of twigs and fibrous roots. It is generally 
placed in a tree at varying distances from the ground, sometimes in 
bushes. The eggs are usually five, olive-drab, thickly spotted with olive- 
brown. They measure 1.10 by .80. 
A remarkable instance of conservative adaptation, revealed by acci- 
dent, and possible only among birds, is to be found in a communication 
to the Family Visitor, Vol. 1, 1850, 32, over the signature “C.” 
‘(A Blue Jay, with its wing broken, was brought to me one day to stuff, but as I was 
unable to do it then I kept it till the next day. It would hop about the room vocifera- 
ting in its loud, harsh manner, skulking in corners, and trying to hide under chairs, but 
when caught biting fiercely the fingers exposed to it. Wishing to kill it without injur- 
ing the skin or disarranging its feathers, I attempted to strangle it by compressing its 
neck firmly so that the windpipe was entirely closed, and in this manner I held it for 
several minutes without its presenting any appearance of suffocation or inconvenience, 
and its thorax contracted and expanded regularly. Putting it, down on the floor, it 
hopped off inte a corner, screaming and scolding as usual. I was sadly puzzled to 
account for this, till at length I thought of its wing, and on examining it I found the 
large bone (humerus) broken, and through this it had breathed. After I stopped up 
this orifice, and compressed the windpipe again, it was suffocated in a few moments. 
SUB-ORDER CLAMATORES. -NON-MELODIOUS PASSERES. 
BAUME Yaa YI PAGING IN| TIDE AR oi ETE es Eliana, CANIN eter insee 
First’ primary lengthened, often longest, at least over two-thirds as long as the longest. 
Bill broad at the base, much depressed, tapering to a fine point, which is abruptly de- 
PERISOREUS CANADENSIS (L.) Bp. 
. Canada Jay. 
Perisoreus canadensis, WHEATON, Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1860, 367 (error); Addenda, 480 
(correction); Reprint, 1861, 21 (probable). 
Corvus canadensis, LINNZUS, Syst. Nat., i, 1766, 158. 
Perisoreus canadensis, BONAPARTE, List, 1838, 27. 
The Canada Jay was named as an Ohio bird, in my catalogue of 1861, by an error which 
was corrected in the appendix and reprint. Its nearest locality, so far as known to me, 
is Lewis Co., N. Y., where it has been found breeding in considerable numbers by Dr. 
Merriam. 
