74 



Bird- Lore 



or fowl. On the other liand, he said that the Jays seldom remain 

 at the high altitudes during the winter months, usually descending 

 to lower elevations, where they flit about in flocks of from six to 

 twenty, sounding their plaintive varied notes and whistles at all 

 times. 



Nevertheless, the storing of the Crows at this altitude was cer- 

 tainly much less systematic than that of the Jays. The Jays' move- 

 ments were easy to follow, for they were concerted and regular. The 

 Inn was on a ridge between two canons, and commanded the 

 birds' pathway. A band would come up from imder the cliff at the 

 top of the western canon, cross over the ridge, and drop down into 

 the eastern canon, where they would fly over the tops of the firs 



CLARK S CROW 

 Photographed from nature by Walter K. Fisher 



till they disappeared from sight. They would be gone some little 

 time, and then return empty-handed to repeat the performance. 



The Jays talked a good deal in going back and forth, and their 

 notes were pleasantly varied. One call was remarkably like the 

 chirp of a Robin. Another of the commonest was a weak and rather 

 complaining cry, repeated several times ; and a sharply contrasting 

 one was a pure, clear whistle of one note followed by a three-syllabled 

 call, something like ka-we-ah. The regular rallying cry was still 

 different, a loud and striking two-syllabled ka-whee. The notes of 

 Clark's Crow often suggested the rattling of the Red-headed Wood- 

 pecker. The bird had a variety of kerring, throaty notes, and when 

 disturbed, as at the unexpected sight of me at its dining-room, gave 

 a loud, warning quarr. Besides these Woodpecker-like calls, it had 

 a squawking cry similar to that of Steller's Jay. 



The voices of the birds were often heard from the house as they 

 got water from the hydrant in front of the Inn, the Jays frequently 

 stopping on the way back from their canon storehouse. Sometimes 



