The CANADA JAY is similar in form and size to its blue relatives, but
has the coloring of a northern winter landscape--gray, black, and white.
This jay has no crest; the back of its head and nape are black; the
forehead and neck are white; the upper parts are gray, with darker gray
wings and tail; under parts, light gray; tail, long; plumage, fluffy and
fur-like.
This bird is found in the forests of Canada and in the northern part of
the United States, where it is most common in the coniferous forests of
Maine and Minnesota, in the wilder parts of the White and Green Mts.,
and in the Adirondacks.
Major Charles Bendire, in his interesting "Life Histories of American
Birds," published by our government, writes the following amusing
account of the Canada jay:
"No bird is better known to the lumbermen, trappers and hunters along
our northern border than the Canada Jay, which is a constant attendant
at their camps, and affords them no little amusement during the lonely
hours spent in the woods. To one not familiar with these birds it is
astonishing how tame they become.
"Mr. Manly Hardy writes: 'The Canada Jay is a constant resident of
northern Maine, but in some seasons they are far more abundant than in
others, being usually found in companies of from three to ten. They are
the boldest of all our birds, except the Chickadee, and in cool
impudence far surpass all others. They will enter tents, and often
alight on the bow of a canoe where the paddle at every stroke comes
within 18 inches of them. I know of 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 they were rolled in, and
another pecked a large hole in a cake 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 spoil a marten
in a short time. 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.'"
THE AMERICAN CROW
_Crow Family--Corvidæ_
The AMERICAN CROW is too well-known to need a description--merely a
reference to the steely-blue or dark purple sheen of his "crow-black"
plumage, and to the remarkable power of his long (twelve-inch) wings,
which in flight show feather finger-tips at their ends.
One cannot but admire his strength and his absolute fearlessness, nor
fail to be amused at his cleverness and his insolent bravado. Two or
three crows, cawing hoarsely, will people a woodland in winter; while a
flock, winging its way to the naked March woods, will cause a thrill of
joy and expectancy, in spite of the knowledge that the advent of these
black marauders means eternal vigilance to long-suffering farmers.
Dr. Sylvester D. Judd at Marshall Hall, Maryland, made an exhaustive
study of the crow's food habits. He reported the following:
"The crow is by all means the worst pilferer of the cornfield. Every
year at Marshall Hall, as elsewhere, a part of the field must be
replanted because of his 'pickings and stealings.' In 1899, the
replanting was more extensive than usual--46 per cent. of the 3½ bushels
originally planted. This unusual ratio was probably caused by the
failure of the cherry crop, which left the crow short of food."
Dr. Judd told of the "protective devices of tarring corn," which did not
prevent the crows from pulling up the grain in large quantities, though
they did not eat it. He continued:
"The injury to corn at other seasons than sprouting time is, as a
general thing, comparatively insignificant, but in some years it has
been important when the ears were in the milk. They then tear open the
ears, and pick out the kernels in rapid succession. In the National
Zoölogical Park at Washington during the summer of 1896, their
depredations on an acre of corn were watched, and 50 per cent. of the
crop was found to have been ruined.
"The only scarecrows that proved effective at Marshall Hall were dead
crows, and strings stretched on poles around the field and hung with
long white streamers. Although in fall the number of marauders is
greatly increased by reënforcements from the North, ripe corn sustains
less injury from crows than roasting ears. One reason is the abundance
of fall fruit.
"Wheat suffers comparatively little. When it is ripening, cherries and
sprouting corn divert the crow's attention. After it is cut and gathered
into the shock, however, they often join the English sparrows in
removing the kernels. Oats are injured even less than wheat, though
crows have been noticed feeding on them at harvest time."
While the crow is considered the arch-criminal of the bird-world, Dr.
Judd ascribed to him a good habit--that of the dissemination of wild
seeds in an unusual manner. He wrote: "In November, 1899, a large flock
on the wing was noticed in the distance, at a point opposite Fort
Washington, several miles above Marshall Hall. They came on down the
river in a line that at times stretched almost from one bank to the
other. They circled several times and alighted on the shore. The flock
numbered at least a thousand, and hoarse caws and croaks gave evidence
that it was made up to some extent of fish crows.
"After the birds had remained on shore about fifteen minutes, they were
put to flight by a farmer's boy and flew on down the river. Going to the
place where they had alighted, I found the sandy beach cut up for more
than a hundred yards with their tracks. Many led out to the water, and
floating black feathers here and there showed where baths had been
taken.
"The most interesting trace of their sojourn, however, was several
hundred pellets of fruit material, which they had ejected through their
mouths and dropped on the ground. These pellets were about an inch in
length and half an inch in diameter. They were of a deep purplish color,
due to the fruit of woodbine, wild grape, and pokeberry, of which they
were mainly composed. In 50 pellets collected there were only 11 seeds
of other plants--namely, holly, bitter-sweet, and poison ivy. Pokeberry
seeds were by far the most numerous. Mr. A. J. Pieters, of the Botanical
Division of the Department of Agriculture, germinated some of them, thus
demonstrating the fact that they were distributed uninjured.
"The pellets were made up not only of seeds and skins, but largely of
fruit pulp in an undigested state. It seems strange that the birds
should have rid themselves of a substance that still contained a good
deal of nutriment.
"Little is known of the distribution of fruit seeds by crows during
migration, but it is certain that they do this work effectively while
they fly to and from the roosts where they congregate in winter, for
their feeding grounds often cover an area stretching out on all sides
from the roosts for 50 miles or more. It appears highly probable that
the crows which are found in winter at Marshall Hall roost at
Woodbridge, D. C., some 15 miles distant. There, in the midst of several
acres of woodland, a crow dormitory is established, in which probably
100,000 crows sleep every winter night. It was visited in February,
1901, and the ground was found to be strewn with disgorged pellets."[9]
The FISH CROW (16 inches long) is three inches smaller than the common
crow. It has a more uniform iridescence above, and is greenish
underneath. Its caw is hoarser and more nasal. Its range is from
Connecticut and the lower Hudson southward, generally near the coast. It
is abundant in Virginia, and near the city of Washington.
The FLORIDA CROW is similar to the American Crow, except that its bill
and feet are larger, its wings and tail shorter.