5 6 CANADA JAY.
riorly scutellate, compressed, acute behind ; toes free, scutellate, the inner
shorter than the outer ; claws arched, compressed, acute.
Plumage soft, blended, slightly glossed. A tuft of reflected, adpressed,
bristly feathers over the nostril on each side. Wings short; first
quill very short, fourth and fifth longest. Tail longish, much rounded,
of twelve rounded feathers. During winter, there is an accumulation of
soft, downy feathers on the rump.
Bill and feet black. Iris brown. Forehead and feathers covering
the nostrils brownish-white; throat, a collar passing round the lower part
of the neck, and the lower parts generally of a white colour, slightly
tinged with yellowish. The general tint of the upper parts is a dull
leaden grey ; the back of the neck black ; the margins of the quills and
coverts dull-white, as are those of the tail feathers, which are broadly tipped
with the same.
Length 11 inches, extent of wings 15 ; beak 1; tarsus 1£.
Adult Female. Plate CVII. Fig. %
The Female scarcely differs in any perceptible degree from the Male;
the light coloured tints being only more tinged with brown, and the
grey of the upper parts somewhat duller.
THE WHITE OAK.
QUERCUS ALBA, Willd. Sp. P L vol. iv. p. 429—Michaux. Arbr. Forest, de l'Amérique
Sept. vol. ii. p. 13. pl. 1. Pursh, Flor. Amer. Sept. voL ii. p. 633.—MONOECIA
POLYANDRIA, Linn. AMENTACEJE, JUSS.
Leaves oblong, pinnatifido-sinuate, downy beneath, the lobes linearlanceolate,
obtuse, attenuated at the base, entire on the margin ; the fruit
pedunculate, the cupule tubercular, flat at the base, cupshaped, the
acorn ovate. Although this species of oak is not abundant in Maine,
where the Canada Jay chiefly occurs, I have employed it in my drawing,
on account of the rich colouring of its fine leaves during the autumnal
months. It is in Louisiana, where it is plentiful, that one must see it, to
judge of the grandeur which it attains under favourable circumstances.
I have often seen these oaks spreading their young branches amid the
CANADA JAY. 57
tops of Magnolias fully one hundred feet above the ground, with stems
from four to six feet in diameter, to the height of fifty or more feet, straight
as a line, and without a branch to that height. When left in fields,
their tops, naturally inclined to spread, render their aspect majestic; and
one is tempted to try to calculate the many years these noble trees have
stood against the blast of the tempest. The wood, which is of excellent
quality, being hard and durable, is applied to numerous uses. Its distribution
is very extensive in the United States, it being found in the
forests from Louisiana to Massachusetts, and in the western countries
beyond the Mississippi.
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