Clark's nutcracker 313 



the longest. It is quite likely that these locations are the freest from 

 the wind which blows so hard at these elevations, and 1 feel certain the 

 juniper trees are used because of their sturdy build and ability to with- 

 stand the wind action. Ail nest locations seemed to have been selected 

 with protection from the wind in mind, as the nests were either on top 

 of a large limb, or, if supported by a small branch, were surrounded by 

 heavy limbs that gave protection." 



J. H. Bowles (1908) found these birds rather plentiful near the west 

 end of Lake Chelan, Wash., "where they seemed to prefer an altitude 

 of a little over 1500 feet. Here on June 13 I located the only nest of 

 the trip, which was disclosed to me by the parent birds carrying food to 

 the young. It was about 150 feet up in a large bull pine, near the top 

 where some disease of the foliage had caused an almost solid cluster four 

 feet in diameter." 



J. A. Munro (1919) reports three nests found by him and Maj. Allan 

 Brooks in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, on March 9, 1912. 

 "This was in Yellow Pine country; a series of wooded benches over- 

 looking Okanagan Lake." The first two nests were in yellow pines, 

 Pinus ponderosa, one 50 feet up and 8 feet out from the trunk, and the 

 other 40 feet above ground ; each of these nests held two fresh eggs. 

 The third nest was 25 feet from the ground and 12 feet out from the 

 trunk of a Douglas fir; it contained three partly incubated eggs; one of 

 the birds was seen carrying sheep's wool to the nest. 



M. P. Skinner (1916) writes thus of the nesting of the nutcrackers 

 in Wyoming: 



About February 1, at Fort Yellowstone, elevation 6300 feet above sea level, 

 the birds are mated and the building of the nest begins, each bird of the pair 

 doing its share. The thick top of a cedar, or other evergreen is selected, with a 

 convenient crotch about twelve feet from the ground. First a rough platform of 

 twigs is built. These twigs are broken from a cedar (western juniper) by a 

 quick, wrenching jerk assisted by the cutting edges of the bill, and carried to the 

 site. Here the material is piled in the crotch till the mass reaches a ball about nine 

 inches in diameter and six inches high. The nest proper is deep and cup shaped, 

 about six inches in diameter, and has walls an inch thick; it is built of cedar or 

 pine needles and the inner lining of grass stems and shredded juniper bark, each 

 strand turned into place by the bird squatting down on it and twisting in it. A 

 few horse hairs and bits of strings are usually included in the lining. 



Eggs. — Clark's nutcracker lays, apparently usually, two or three eggs, 

 but often four and occasionally as many as five or even six. They vary 

 in shape from ovate to elliptical-ovate and are only slightly glossy. The 

 ground color is a pale shade of "lichen green," pale grayish green, or 

 very pale, clear green, almost greenish white. They are usually thinly, 

 evenly, and rather sparingly spotted with minute dots, small spots or 



