sy bird has all
the habits common to other Jays including that of robbing birds' nests.
They build generally in tangled thickets or low bushes, placing their
nests at a low elevation and making them of twigs, weeds, moss, etc.,
lined with fine rootlets. Their four or five eggs, which are laid during
April or May, are grayish buff in color, spotted with various shades of
brown and lavender gray. Size 1.20 x .85.

484. CANADA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis canadensis._

Range.--Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the
United States; west to the Rockies.

This is the bird that is well known to hunters of "big game" by various
names such as "Whiskey Jack", "Moose Bird", "Camp Robber", etc. During
the winter months, owing to the scarcity of food, their thieving
propensities are greatly enhanced and they remove everything from the
camps, which looks as though it might be edible. Birds of this genus are
smoky gray on the back and lighter below, shading to white on the
throat; the forehead and part of the crown is white and the nape
blackish. Their nests are placed at low elevations in bushes or fir
trees, and are usually very different from any of the preceding Jays'
nests. They are nearly as high as wide, and are made of small twigs,
moss, catkins, weeds and feathers making a soft spongy mass which is
placed in an upright crotch. The eggs are a yellowish gray color spotted
and blotched with brown and grayish. Size 1.15 x .80. Data.--Innisfail,
Alberta, March 12, 1903. Nest a beautiful structure of twigs, moss and
feathers in a willow bush, 6 feet from the ground. The thermometer
registered 32 below zero the day the eggs were taken. Collector, W.
Blackwood.

[Illustration 310: Green Jay.]
[Illustration: Grayish buff.]
[Illustration: Grayish.]
[Illustration: Canada Jay.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]

Page 309

484a. ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis capitalis._

Range.--Rocky Mountains from Montana to Arizona.

This variety has the whole crown white and only a small amount of
blackish on the nape. Its nesting habits and eggs are precisely like
those of the last.

484b. ALASKA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis fumifrons._

Range.--Alaska.

A very similar bird to the Canada Jay but with the forehead yellowish or
duller; the nests and eggs are like those of the others of the genus.

484c. LABRADOR JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus._

Range.--Labrador.

This is a darker