It is a shy bird and does not often approach the haunts of man. Its food is very like that of other jays, but its habits bring no condemnation upon it.[7]
The CALIFORNIA JAY is similar to the Florida Jay and may be easily distinguished by its blue head without a crest, its blue neck, wings, and tail, its brown back, white throat, and gray under parts. This jay is a decided reprobate. Professor Beal has characterized it as follows: “It freely visits the stockyards near ranch buildings, and orchards and gardens. As a fruit stealer it is notorious. One instance is recorded where seven jays were shot from a prune tree, one after the other, the dead bodies being left under the tree until all were killed. So eager were the birds to get the fruit that the report of the gun and the sight of their dead did not deter them from coming to the tree. In orchards, in canyons, or on hillsides adjacent to chaparral or other cover, great mischief is done by this bird. In one such case an orchard was under observation at a time when the prune crop was ripening, and jays in a continuous stream were seen to come down a small ravine to the orchard, prey upon the fruit, and return.
“Fruit stealing, however, is only one of the sins of the California jay. That it robs hens’ nests is universal testimony. A case is reported of a hen having a nest under a clump of bushes; every day a jay came to a tree a few rods away, and when it heard the cackle of the hen announcing a new egg it flew at once to the nest. At the same time the mistress of the house hastened to the spot to secure the prize, but in most cases the jay won the race. This is only one of many similar cases recounted. The jays have learned just what the cackle of the hen means. Another case more serious is that related by a man engaged in raising white leghorn fowls on a ranch several miles from a canyon. He stated that when the chicks were very young the jays attacked and killed them by a few blows of the beak and then pecked open the skull and ate out the brains. In spite of all efforts to protect the chicks and kill the jays, the losses in this way were serious.”[8]
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.’”