dG BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



mainly in California. In the Lassen Peak region, according to Grinnell, 

 Dixon, and Linsdale (1930), these ja3^s "in summer were found in 

 and about clumps of closely growing small coniferous trees, often as 

 forming dense thickets of undergrowth in old forest that is thinning 

 out, or at edges of forests. Kinds of trees that formed such suitable 

 clumps and which were frequented by the jays were white fir, red fir, 

 yellow pine, and hemlock. At the western frontier, the occasional pairs 

 seen were usually in tracts of small yellow pines. The birds were seen 

 most often at heights of close to four meters above the ground." 



The range of this ja}' in the mountains extends upward to about 8,000 

 or 9,000 feet, or to the lower limit of the Hudsonian Zone, where 

 Clark's nutcracker is found. It finds the lower limit of its range where 

 the c.oniferous mountain forest gives way to the foothill oaks and 

 chaparral ; here it mingles to some extent with the California jay, but 

 sticks mainly to the pines. 



Professor Beal (1910) says: "It sometimes ventures to the edges of 

 the valleys and occasionally visits orchards for a taste of fruit, of which 

 it is very fond, but in general it keeps to the hills and wilder parts of 

 the canyons. It is fond of coniferous trees and is likely to be found 

 wherever these abound. Where ranches have been established far up 

 the canyons among the hills, this jay visits the ranch buildings." 



Nesting. — J. Stuart Rowley writes to me : "I have located many nests 

 of this bird in the Sierra Nevadas, from Tulare County in central 

 California to San Bernardino County in southern California. The most 

 frequently used nest site seems to be a young conifer, with the nest 

 placed about 10 feet up near the main trunk and supported by horizontal 

 branches. The incubating females are rather close sitters and make 

 quite a fuss when flushed from the nests." 



W. E. Griffee sends me the following note: "While cruising timber 

 in the lower Sierras, about 20 to 30 miles east of Placerville, Eldorado 

 County, Calif., I found several nests of this subspecies. All were high 

 on dry hillsides in rather dense reproduction of ponderosa and sugar 

 pines and incense cedar, at elevations of 8 to 12 feet from the ground. 

 Nests were, of course, easy to see and readily accessible, but to find 

 them, had I not been climbing over the timbered hills as a part of my 

 work, would have required a tremendous amount of walking." 



J. G. Suthard tells me that he found a nest containing four fresh eggs 

 on April 21, 1940, in the San Bernardino Mountains. "The nest was 

 situated 8 feet up in a willow along a mountain stream at 9,000 feet 

 elevation. It was shielded from view by a cluster of branches growing 

 up from the slanting trunk of the willow. There were plenty of pine 

 and fir trees in the vicinity, but the jays seemed to prefer the willows. 



