White-headed Jay 289 



its bad reputation as a robber of other birds' nests 

 is undeserved, as it appears to live in perfect amity 

 with them. 



This Jay builds its nest in low scrub or piiion trees 

 not far from water ; no mud or clay is used in its con- 

 struction. The nest proper is placed on a platform of 

 crooked, dead twigs, thickly interlaced ; on this is a cup 

 of interwoven stalks and roots lined with finer material 

 of the same kind, and sometimes with horsehair as well. 

 The whole structure is very carefully concealed and 

 difficult to locate. The eggs, three to five in number, 

 are laid about the first week in May in El Paso co. They 

 are a dirty pea-green colour, sparingly spotted with 

 reddish-brown, and measure 1*09 x '79. Aiken (72) 

 was the first to describe the nesting habits, and his 

 remarks have recently been amply corroborated by 

 Kockwell (07). 



Genus PERISOREUS. 



Bill short and conical, about half the length of the head ; nostrils 

 concealed by the short, stifi nasal bristles ; no crest ; wings rather 

 long and pointed, about the same length as the tail, which is strongly 

 graduated, the outer tail-feathers about f the length of the middle 

 one ; plumage lax, the prevailing colour grey. 



A boreal genus, foimd in the northern pine forests of the Old and 

 New Worlds, and south in the Rocky Mountains to the Mexican border. 

 Three species are generally recognized ; a subspecific form of one of 

 these is found in Colorado. 



White-headed Jay. Perisoreus canadensis capitalis. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 484a — Colorado Records — Baird 58, p. 590 ; 

 Allen 72, p. 163 ; Henshaw 75, p. 339 ; Brewer 79, p. 239 ; Scott 79, 

 p. 94 ; Drew 81, p. 149 ; Stone 82, p. 181 ; Drew 85, p. 16 ; Morrison 

 88, p. 107 ; 89 p. 147 ; Kellogg 90, p. 88 ; Bendire 92, p. 388 ; Lowe 

 94, p. 268 ; Cooke 97, pp. 90, 210 ; Henderson 03, p. 235 ; 09, p. 233 ; 

 Gihnan 07, p. 155 ; Warren 08, p. 22 ; 09, p. 15 ; Rockwell OS, p. 168. 



Description. — Adult — Crown pure white, separated from a somewhat 

 vaguely defined, dirty-white collar by a dark slaty nuchal patch ; rest 

 of the upper-surface slate-grey, the wing and tail-feathers white tipped ; 



U 



