74 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Denis Gale in Boulder County, Colorado, that was "in a black willow, 9 

 feet from the ground, at an altitude of 5,500 feet." In his description of 

 a nest he says that "the inner lining consists mostly of small rootlets, in 

 one instance considerable horsehair being intermixed, while in another 

 the lining consists principally of grass and pine needles." 



Aiken and Warren (1914) tell of a Colorado nest that "was 6 feet 

 from the ground in a Douglas's fir sapling, only 2 inches in diameter at 

 the base, and on a branch close to the stem of the tree. The outside 

 diameter of the nest was about 10 inches, and it was 5 deep, the nest 

 cavity being 4^ inches in diameter inside, by 3 deep." 



Eggs. — ^The long-crested jay lays three to six eggs, usually three or 

 four, though five is not a rare number. These are practically indistin- 

 guishable from those of other races of the species. The measurements 

 of 40 eggs average 31.1 by 22.5 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 34.5 by 22.9, 34.0 by 24.0, 27.9 by 21.6, and 28.8 by 

 21.2 millimeters. 



Plumages. — The sequence of plumages and molts is the same as in 

 other races of the species, but Mr. Swarth (1904) calls attention to 

 some points in which the plumages seem to differ from those of stclleri. 

 He says that in the young male in juvenal plumage, "there is some 

 whitish on the chin, an indistinct whitish line over the eye, and the 

 faintest suggestion of bluish white markings on the forehead. A juvenile 

 female is essentially the same in coloration but lacks the whitish mark- 

 ings about the head." Of the adults he says: "Specimens in fresh, un- 

 worn plumage have the upper parts of a decidedly bluish tinge, in 

 marked contrast to the brown dorsum of late spring and summer 

 birds." 



Pood. — What has been written about the food of the blue-fronted jay 

 will apply equally well to the long-crested. Qinton G. Abbott (1929) 

 writes entertainingly of watching these jays at a feeding shelf: "Soft 

 food would be gobbled on the shelf, but the roughly broken pieces of 

 toast were invariably carried in the bill to a distance. Here, either on a 

 branch or on the ground, the jay would place the morsel under one foot 

 (the other foot sometimes also adding its grasp) and then with strong 

 pecks would break ofif fragments. It is evident that this bird cannot 

 swallow without raising its bill, and, also, its gullet must be surprisingly 

 narrow. I have seen the upward jerk of the bill several times repeated, 

 and each time the piece of toast was returned, to be whittled a little 

 smaller, before finally disappearing out of sight." 



Of its feeding on the ground he says : "Hopping, hopping methodical- 

 ly the bird would seem to examine every square inch over which it 

 passed. Sometimes the head would be held high and the gaze directed 



