Clark's Crows and Oregon Jays on Mount Hood 



47 



crowned Sparrow, together with Townsend's Solitaire and other inter- 

 esting westerners, moved about in the branches of the low timber-line 

 pines ; and Lewis' Woodpeckers, with their long, powerful flights, 

 crossed over the forested canons below. Crossbills had stayed around 

 the house sociably for three weeks together, Mrs. Langille, the noble 

 old mother of the mountaineers, told me. She said they would fly 

 against the logs of the house and call till she went out to feed them. 

 They left with the first heavy storms, though usually, she said : 

 "That's the time when we have birds come around the house — 

 when there are storms." And a friendly hospice the feathered way- 

 farers find it so long as the Inn is open ! 



The Oregon Jays and Clark's Crows are, as I said, the regular 

 pensioners of the house. The Jays look very much like their rela- 

 tives the Canada Jays, but are darker, and when you are close to 

 them the feathers of their 

 backs show distinct whitish 

 shaft - streaks. The Crows 

 have the general form and 

 bearing of Crows, but are 

 black only on wings and tail, 

 their general appearance be- 

 ing gray. Speaking of the 

 birds, Mrs. Langille said: -'If 

 I was in the kitchen myself 

 I'd have them come right to 

 the porch outside ; when I'm 

 in the kitchen I'm always 

 throwing out crumbs for the birds and squirrels, and I've had the 

 Jays come and sit right down on the block where I w^as cutting 

 meat and take the fat right out of my hands." Clark's Crows, she 

 said, would not eat from her hand, but would sit on the back porch 

 and call for their breakfast. 



When I was at the Inn, the Chinese cook used to throw scraps 

 from the table over a lava cliff, and both Crows and Jays spent 

 most of their time carrying it off. As the foot of the cliff was one 

 of the best places to watch them, I spent part of every day there, 

 and when the smell of coffee grounds got too strong, consoled my- 

 self by looking through the trees up at the grand white peak of 

 Hood. 



It was interesting to see the difference in the ways of the two 

 birds. The Nutcracker would fly down to the rocks with rattling 

 wings, and, when not too hungry to be critical, would proceed to 

 investigate the breakfast with the air of a judge on the bench, for 



CLARK S CROW 



