Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/134

 Concerning the Bad Repute of Whiskey John 113

never Straggle a short day's journey? Why is it that an omnivorous bird, intelligent, restless, enterprising, fearless, apparently capable of adap~ talions and certainly attracted by the neighborhood of man, belonging to an Order of birds which is eminently civilizable, is so closely restricted in its distribution? There is no climatic barrier: there is no noteworthy difference in the vegetal faunas of places within and without his limits: there is no dietary restriction as in the case of some local birds, Here is a very interesting ornithological puzzle.

The nest and eggs of the Canada Jay I have never seen. A stand- ing offer of two dollars apiece for the eggs, though repeated several years, failed to bring in a single specimen. Woodsmen seem very ignorant of their breeding habits. and the only positive statement that Irremember was the remarkable information volunteered by a lumberman that the 4' Beefebird.y nested and had young every month in the year. It is well known, however, that they nest in March when the snow is still very deep in the woods. The ﬁrst of June I have seen the young, fully feathered and larger than parents, and with the edges of their bills still yellow. They were a very dark blackish slate, wholly unlike the adult. This plumage seems not to have been generally noticed, though it is worn some time.

On considering the evident reluctance of woodsmen to hunt up the nests of this bird, I have suspected that there may be some superstition connected with the bird similar to that which Mr. L. NI. Turner records of the Labrador subspecies The Indians there believe that ” if a per? son sees the eggs in the nest, and especially if he counts them, some great misfortune will befall him.” This is curiously substantiated in Nlr. E. W. Nelson's account of the Alaskan subespecies, where he notes that the natives refused large bribes rather than take the risk of angering the bird by stealing its nest. The superstition applies only to the eggs. and is, I suspect, coincident with the distribution of the bird, though I never thought to inquire of our hunters and Indians on the subject. Indeed. unless it were chanced upon, its authenticity as a superstition would be doubtful, as the legend-hunter in Maine has only to state what he wants and he gets all he pays for. The seekers of the marvelous are sure to be satisfied.

How the native hunters always hated Whiskey Jack! They never had a good word for him, and a bullet was their usual greeting. The camper came home to ﬁnd his but invaded; the deer-stalker had his carcasses of venison riddled by their sharp bills and unﬁt for market: the trapper’s sable were half—ruined in the traps, and, more provoking yet, his traps were robbed of their bait within ﬁve minutes after they had been set. It was hard work to plod all day through the lonesome, snowy wilderness. carrying a heavy bag of bait, and to feel that he was doing