LONG-CRESTED JAY 73 



fill in from behind and before, to make an elegant pj^ramid when standing close 

 together, or a bundle of plumes when shaken apart. * * * The crest can be 

 raised or lowered, and opened or shut at pleasure; and its rapid movements, when 

 the bird is excited, are highly expressive. The jay seems to be proud of his 

 top-knot, and generally holds it pretty high, unless he happens to be on a 

 birds'-nesting expedition, which I am sorry to say is not seldom, when he lowers 

 his standard, and makes himself as small as possible, as he skulks silently about, 

 looking, and no doubt feeling, like the thief that he is. 



The haunts of the long-crested jay during the breeding season, at 

 least, are in the coniferous forests of the mountains, ranging up to 

 10,000 or 11,000 feet among the pines. In the Huachuca Mountains, 

 Ariz., in May, we found the long-crested jays very common from 6,000 

 feet upward. We frequently saw them about our cabin in Ramsey Can- 

 yon, evidently foraging for scraps in the little group of summer camps ; 

 this was far below the pine belt where the tree growth consisted mainly 

 of sycamores, maples, walnuts, and other deciduous trees. But their 

 main summer haunts were on the steep hillsides that rose abruptly 

 from the sides of the canyon, where there was an open growth of large 

 and small pines, and from there up to the pine-clad summit at 9,000 

 feet. H. S. Swarth (1904), referring to the same locality, says that 

 "up to the middle of April they were most abundant in the oak regions 

 and along the canyons from 5,000 to 7,000 feet, usually in flocks of a 

 dozen or more ; but after .that time they gradually withdrew to the 

 higher parts of the mountains to attend to their domestic duties." 



Fred M. Packard tells me that in Estes Park, Colo., this jay is a per- 

 manent resident, "most common in the upper Transition zone, not 

 uncommon in the lower Canadian, and occasionally seen in the Hud- 

 sonian in late summer." 



Nesting. — The nesting habits of the long-crested jay are practically 

 the same as those of the blue-fronted jay of the mountains of California. 

 The only nest I have seen was found in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., 

 on May 30, 1922; it was well up toward the summit, above Ramsey 

 Canyon, and was placed near the end of a branch of a "bull pine," 8 feet 

 from the ground (pi. 13) ; it was the usual nest of sticks, reinforced 

 with mud, and was lined with rootlets. My companion, Frank C. Wil- 

 lard, records in his notes three other nests found in the same region : one 

 v/as 15 feet up in a small oak. another on a horizontal branch of a large 

 fir tree, about 25 feet from the ground, and the third was between 50 

 and 60 feet above ground in the top of a pine tree. All these nests 

 were at altitudes above 7,000 feet. 



Bendire (1895) says that "their nests are usually placed in small 

 bushy pines or other conifers, at no great distance from the ground, 

 varving mostlv from 8 to 15 feet." Bnt he mentions a nest, taken by 



