ARIZONA JAY 119 



and May 11. On May 1 we found two occupied nests in one tree, one 

 with eggs and one with young; in both cases the parent bird was on 

 the nest, incubating the eggs or brooding the young. I cHmbed the 

 tree to examine the nests, which caused both birds to leave and begin 

 scolding; as soon as I retired, the bird returned immediately to the 

 nest containing eggs, though it held but two, an obviously incomplete 

 set. Others have seen these jays sitting on the completed nests some 

 time before the eggs were laid. 



The nests that we examined were all placed in oaks at heights ranging 

 from 10 to 25 feet above ground, though my companion, F. C. Willard, 

 told me that he found one as low as 6 feet in a scrub oak, and another 

 at 9 feet. The nests were all very much alike, quite bulky and con- 

 spicuous. The base of the nest usually consists of a rough, sc.raggly 

 platform, or basket, of large, coarse sticks, held in place by their 

 crooked shapes, mixed with a mass of smaller twigs. In this basket 

 and strongly supported by it, is a well-made cup of closely woven root- 

 lets, lined with fine dry grasses, or with horsehair or cow's hair. Al- 

 though apparently loosely built, the foundation is really very firm, and 

 the whole structure can be removed without falling apart. 



The nests we found were placed at various situations in the tree, 

 usually on a horizontal branch or an upright crotch, but occasionally 

 out near the end of a branch. We always saw several birds in the 

 vicinity of the nests, and Mr. Willard told me that they live in loose 

 colonies on a communal basis, and that three or four birds often assist 

 in the building of a nest. Most of the nests we saw were not far 

 apart, and all the jays in the group showed their mutual interest by 

 flocking, with loud cries of protest, about any nest that was being 

 investigated. 



Mr. Scott's (1886) experience with the nesting of this jay is inter- 

 esting and is thus related by him: 



About the last of February, 1885, I noticed the birds mating, and on the 16th 

 of March found a nest, apparently completed, but containing no eggs. There were 

 at least half-a-dozen pairs of the birds in the immediate vicnity, but a close search 

 did not reveal any other nests. The nest was built in an oak sapling about ten 

 feet from the ground, and is composed of dry rootlets laid very loosely in con- 

 centric rings, and with little or no attempt at weaving together. There is nothing 

 like a lining, and the walls of the structure have an average thickness of about 

 three-quarters of an inch. The interior diameter is five inches, and the greatest 

 interior depth an inch and three-quarters. The whole fabric recalls to mind a 

 rather deep saucer. The nest was not built in a crotch, but where several small 

 branches and twigs leave the large branch (an inch and a half in diameter) which 

 forms the main support. All the other nests I have seen resemble this one so 

 closely that this description will answer for them. 



I did not visit the nest again until the 25th of the month, and was then rather 



