Bird Biographies

								

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