318 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



how careful the birds were to make sure of thoroughly killing them before 

 eating. Every ant was beaten to a pulp before it was swallowed, so there was no 

 chance that the powerful forceps of the insect might injure the throat or stomach 

 of the bird. The beetles received considerably less punishment, but the body 

 of the snails were carefully picked out of the shell before swallowing. We threw 

 them some of our own food, but they did not seem to care especially for it, 

 presumably because they had such an abundance of natural food. The number 

 of black ants these birds eat must be far beyond calculation, as not one of these 

 insects could be found for some time after the birds flew up into the timber. 



Victor H. Cahalane (1944) tells an interesting story of a nutcracker's 

 ability to locate food under 8 inches of snow ; he flushed one from the 

 ground under a Douglas fir, and found that the bird "had dug a hole 

 three or four inches in diameter at the top, at an angle of perhaps 30 

 degrees, through the hard-packed snow to the sloping ground. At the 

 bottom of the excavation, frozen to the ground litter, was a Douglas 

 fir cone." The snow was so deep that there was no indication on 

 the surface of the presence of the cone; the bird had done no explora- 

 tory digging, but had dug the hole with remarkable accuracy in exactly 

 the right spot. 



Behavior. — I always liked the old generic name Picicorvtcs, as it seemed 

 particularly appropriate for a bird that so much resembles the wood- 

 peckers and the crows in behavior and appearance. My first impres- 

 sion of it was that of a large woodpecker, and others, including its 

 discoverer, got the same impression. Its flight, as I remember it, is 

 undulating like that of a woodpecker; and most observers seem to 

 have seen it that way. Dr. Coues (1874), however, says that "the 

 ordinary flight is rapid, straight, and steady, accomplished by regular 

 and vigorous wing-beats; but when flying only from tree to tree, 

 the birds swing themselves in an undulatory course, with the wings 

 alternately spread and nearly closed, much in the manner of the 

 Woodpeckers." 



They sometimes soar high in the air like hawks, with wings and 

 tails widely spread, or from some dizzy height make a spectacular 

 dive earthward. Mrs. Wheelock (1904) writes: 



It is on the crests of the Sierra Nevada that these birds are found most 

 abundantly. Here they sun themselves on the highest peaks, frolicking noisily 

 in the clear, bracing air. When hungry or thirsty, they dart from their lofty 

 perches and, with wings folded, hurl themselves down the canon with the speed 

 of a bullet. Just as you are sure they will be dashed to pieces, their wings 

 open witli an explosive noise and the headlong fall is checked in a moment. 

 Sometimes the descent is finished as lightly as the fall of a bit of thistle down; 

 sometimes by another series of swift flights ; often by one rocket-like plunge. 

 At the foot a mountain brook furnishes food and drink. As the shadows creep 

 up the sides of the canon, the Nutcrackers follow the receding sunlight to the 



