82 Zoology of Colorado 



headed Jay or Camp Robber (Perisoreus canadensis capitalis) and 

 Clarke's Nutcracker or Clarke's Crow (Nucifraga columbiana). 

 Both are seen about camps, feeding on whatever they can obtain, 

 but Perisoreus is the bolder bird, and will steal while you are 

 looking at it. Clarke's Crow has a very neat appearance, the 

 wings are black with a white patch, while the tail is black in the 

 middle, white at the sides. The Camp Robber is more fluffy 

 and untidy looking, white on the crown (whence the name cap- 

 italis), and lacks the conspicuous black areas. Two jays with 

 essentially blue plumage are without any crest. The one with 

 longer tail, the body mainly blue above and gray beneath, is the 

 Woodhouse Jay (Aphelocoma californica icoodhousei of Baird), 

 found among the brushwood in rocky places. It was first ob- 

 tained at Fort Thorn, New Mexico. The Pinon Jay (Cyanoce- 

 phalus cyanocephalus of Wied) is said by Sclater to combine the 

 form of a crow with the color of a jay, and a characteristic bill 

 (slender and somewhat compressed) all its own. It feeds on the 

 seeds of the pinon pine, but also (Mr. Warren notes) on corn and 

 any other grain it can steal. 



ICTERIDAE 



This family is peculiar to the Western Hemisphere, and is 

 richly represented in Colorado. Some of its members are called 

 blackbirds, which may be correct in a descriptive sense, but they 

 have nothing to do with the English blackbird, which is a black 

 thrush. 



The Meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta of Audubon) is also 

 unfortunately named, for the name Sturnella means a little star- 

 ling, which it is not; nor is it in any respect a true lark. The 

 yellow breast with a broad crescentic black band make it easily 

 recognizable. Audubon called our Western Meadowlark "neg- 

 lecta," because it had been overlooked as a species, on account of 

 its extremely close resemblance to the meadow lark of the Eastern 

 States. It is only necessary to hear it sing, in order to realize that 

 it is a different bird. Its notes are many and varied, but a phrase 

 often recurring sounds like John Greenleaf Whittier. Another 

 quite unmistakable bird is the Yellow-headed Blackbird (Xantho- 

 cephalus xanthocephalus of Bonaparte), first recorded (1826) from 



