284 Birds of Colorado 



of the nests of other birds, and will even carry off eggs 

 from the poultry yard, piercing them through the shell 

 with its beak. It is also said to pick the eyes of young 

 lambs and the sores on the backs of horses and cattle, 

 but this does not seem to be a very general habit. It has 

 a loud, harsh voice, but is silent in the breeding season. If 

 taken young from the nest it is easily domesticated, and 

 soon learns to talk Hke its European cousin (Plate 11.) 



Its favourite resort is in the oak and willow brushwood 

 along the banks and the valley slopes of streams. Here 

 its bulky nests are a very conspicuous feature ; these 

 are built towards the end of March, and are used and 

 added to several years in succession. The nest proper 

 is built up of small twigs, with a lining of clay and an inner 

 lining of hair and fuie rootlets ; this is placed on a 

 foundation of larger sticks, which are built up all round 

 and above, to form a complete domed nest with an 

 inconspicuous entrance on one side, the whole structure 

 being often two to three feet in diameter. It is 

 usually placed in a thick bush from ten to twenty 

 feet from the ground, though sometimes I have seen 

 one as high as sixty feet in a cotton- wood tree. 



The eggs, seven or eight in number, are laid between 

 April 15th and 30th in the foothills, and about a fort- 

 night later in the mountains, and the young are hatched 

 in about eighteen days ; normally only one brood is 

 reared. The eggs vary in shape and markings, but 

 are usually grey, heavily blotched with pale brown, 

 and measure 1*28 x 090. Rockwell found eggs as 

 early as March 31st in Mesa co., at about 6,500 feet. 



Genus CYANOCITTA. 



Bill moderate, the basal half covered by nasal plumes which conceal 

 the nostrils ; crown very distinctly crested ; wings and tail approxi- 

 mately of equal length ; tail slightly graduated. 



