CATHARTES JOTA, BONAPARTE, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 23.
CATHARTES ATRATUS, SWAINS AND RICHARDS, Fauna Boreali-Americ. Part 11. p. 6.
VULTUR JOTA, GMEL. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 247.
BLACK VULTURE or CARRION CROW, VULTUR ATRATUS, WILS. Amer. Ornith.
vol. ix. p. 104. PI. 75. fig. 2—NUTTALL, Manual, p. 46.
Adult Male. Plate CVI. Fig. 1.
Bill elongated, rather stout, straight at the base, slightly compressed;
the upper mandible covered to the middle by the cere, broad,
curved, and acute at the end, the edge doubly undulated. Nostrils
medial, approximate, linear, pervious. Head elongated, neck longish,
body robust. Feet strong; tarsus roundish, covered with small rhomboidal
scales; toes scutellate above, the middle one much longer, the lateral
nearly equal, second and third united at the base by a web. Claws
arched, strong, rather obtuse.
Plumage rather compact, with ordinary lustre. The head and upper
part of the neck are destitute of feathers, having a black, rugose, carunculated
skin, sparsely covered with short hairs, and downy behind. Wings
ample, long, the first quill rather short, third and fourth longest. Tail
longish, even, or very slightly emarginated at the end, of twelve broad,
straight, feathers.
Bill greyish-yellow at the end, dusky at the base, as is the corrugated
skin of the head and neck. Iris reddish-brown. Feet yellowish-grey ;
claws black. The general colour of the plumage is dull-black, slightly
glossed with blue; the primary quills light brownish on the inside.
Length 26 inches; extent of wings 5 4 ; bill 2 | ; tarsus 3£ ; middle
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Adult Female. Plate CVII. Fig. % \ o a o-I 9 w
The female resembles the male in external appearance, and is rather
less.
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T H E CANADA JAY.
CORVUS CANADENSIS, LINN.
- T „ J . o r l . I TO Bisil .otrM duh/k
P L A T E C V I I . MALE AND FEMALE.
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I HAVE found this species of Jay breeding in the State of Maine,
where many individuals belonging to it reside the whole year, and where
in fact so many as fifteen or twenty may be seen in the course of a day by
a diligent person anxious to procure them. In the winter, their numbers
are constantly augmented by those which repair to that country from
places farther north. They advance to the southward as far as the upper
parts of the State of New York, where the person who first gave intimation
to Mr Wilson that the species was to be found in the Union, shot
seven or eight one morning, from which number he presented one to the
esteemed author of the " American Ornithologywho afterwards procured
some in the same neighbourhood. This species is best known in
Maine by the name of the " Carrion Bird,"" which is usually applied to it
on account of its carnivorous propensities. When their appetite is satisfied,
they become shy, and are in the habit of hiding themselves amongst
close woods or thickets; but when hungry, they shew no alarm at the
approach of man, nay, become familiar, troublesome, and sometimes so
very bold as to enter the camps of the " lumberers,'' or attend to rob
them of the bait affixed to their traps. My generous friend, EDWARD
HARRIS, Esq. of New York, told me that while fishing in a birch canoe on
the lakes in the interior of the State of Maine, in the latter part of the summer
of 1833, the Jays were so fearless as to alight in one end of his bark,
while he sat in the other, and help themselves to his bait, taking very
little notice of him.
The lumberers or wood-cutters of this State frequently amuse themselves
in their camp during their eating hours, with what they call " transporting
the carrion bird." This is done by cutting a pole eight or ten
feet in length, and balancing it on the sill of their hut, the end outside
the entrance being baited with a piece of flesh of any kind. Immediately
on seeing the tempting morsel, the Jays alight on it, and while they are
busily engaged in devouring it, a wood-cutter gives a smart blow to the