Many will recognize the Canada Jay by his local names, of which he has a
large assortment. He is called by the guides and lumbermen of the
Adirondack wilderness, "Whisky Jack" or "Whisky John," a corruption of
the Indian name, "Wis-ka-tjon," "Moose Bird," "Camp Robber," "Hudson Bay
Bird," "Caribou Bird," "Meat Bird," "Grease Bird," and "Venison Heron."
To each of these names his characteristics have well entitled him.
The Canada Jay is found only in the more northern parts of the United
States, where it is a resident and breeds. In northern Maine and
northern Minnesota it is most common; and it ranges northward through
the Dominion of Canada to the western shores of Hudson Bay, and to the
limit of timber within the Arctic Circle east of the Rocky Mountains.
Mr. Manly Hardy, in a special bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution,
says, "They are the boldest of our birds, except the Chickadee, and in
cool impudence far surpass all others. They will enter the tents, and
often alight on the bow of a canoe, where the paddle at every stroke
comes within eighteen inches of them. I know nothing which can be eaten
that they will not take, and I had one steal all my candles, pulling
them out endwise, one by one, from a piece of birch bark in which they
were rolled, and another pecked a large hole in a keg of castile soap. A
duck which I had picked and laid down for a few minutes had the entire
breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have seen one alight
in the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcass of a beaver I
had skinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the
kidneys. They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from
traps set for martens and minks, and by eating trapped game. They will
sit quietly and see you build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost
before your back is turned, you hear their hateful "Ca-ca-ca," as they
glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily, carrying off meat
and hiding it. I have thrown out pieces, and watched one to see how much
he would carry off. He flew across a wide stream and in a short time
looked as bloody as a butcher from carrying large pieces; but his
patience held out longer than mine. I think one would work as long as
Mark Twain's California Jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin with
acorns through a knot hole in the roof. They are fond of the berries of
the mountain ash, and, in fact, few things come amiss; I believe they do
not possess a single good quality except industry."
Its flight is slow and laborious, while it moves on the ground and in
trees with a quickness and freedom equal to that of our better known
Bluejay.
The nesting season begins early, before the snow has disappeared, and
therefore comparatively little is known about its breeding habits. It is
then silent and retiring and is seldom seen or heard. The nest is quite
large, made of twigs, fibres, willow bark, and the down of the
cottonwood tree, and lined with finer material. The eggs, so far as is
known, number three or four. They are of a pale gray color, flecked and
spotted over the surface with brown, slate gray, and lavender.