WESTERN BIRDS Jay 



the Magpie, is so different in plumage from all others as 

 to be easily recognized. It is twelve or thirteen inches 

 long with ashy-gray body which becomes whiter on fore- 

 head and chin; bill cylindrical and nostrils concealed by 

 tufts of feathers. The wings are black with white 

 patches, and the tail has the middle feathers black, outer 

 ones white. The young have the colors duller and the 

 upper parts brownish-gray; under parts indistinctly 

 barred. 



These interesting birds, which are also known as 

 Clarke's Crows, are restless and noisy, sometimes band- 

 ing together in immense flocks and roving about for 

 food. They are dwellers of the high mountains where 

 they live upon the seeds of the conifers during the winter. 

 They are also fond of berries, grasshoppers, beetles, but- 

 terflies, black crickets, and other insects, feeding their 

 young on hulled pine seeds. 



The nests are placed in evergreens from eight feet to 

 forty from the ground and are made of twigs, on which 

 pine needles, grasses, bark-strips, and other fibrous mat- 

 ter is well matted together. 



J. Grinnell found Nutcrackers abundant, in 1904, on 

 Mt. Pinos, Ventura County, California, occasionally 

 being seen as low as 5,500 feet. In the San Bernardino 

 Peak, at the head of the Santa Ana River during June 

 and July they were seen as low as 6,000 feet. 



GENUS CYANOCEPHALUS : PINON 

 JAY. 



Pinon Jay: Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus. 



FAMILY— MAGPIES AND JAYS. 



The Pifion Jay is a distinctive member of the family 

 found in the west. It breeds chiefly in the pinon and 



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