THE CANADA JAY
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.