Henshaw on the Nest and Eggs of the Blue Crow. 113 



may the presence of this bird be confidently expected. Although 

 having no liking for the heavy coniferous forests, it being the very 

 rare exception to find the species therein, it yet shares with the 

 Clarke's Crow a fondness for the seeds of the yellow pine, and in 

 winter, the supply of pifion nuts failing, and where the country is 

 but sparsely timbered, it will often be found plundering these trees* 

 of their nutritious seeds. 



Finally, juniper berries may be mentioned as making the third 

 most important item of fare. But doubtless during a bad year any 

 of the smaller seeds are acceptable, and perhaps berries do not 

 come amiss. Certainly I have more than once seen these Jays 

 massing into flocks on the ground and feeding greedily upon grass 

 seeds, and others report a similar experience. 



To none of our species can the term " resident " be applied with 

 more exactness than to the present bird. Although its roving dispo- 

 sition is perfectly apparent at all seasons, and although, except dur- 

 ing the limited period of parental duties, its excursions are constant 

 and wide, yet in no part of its wide range does it appear to be 

 migratory, as the term is correctly understood. I have never my- 

 self found it living among the high mountains, and believe this is 

 contrary to its more usual habits. But in Arizona, according to Dr. 

 Cones, it is so found, and there, as he suggests, it doubtless does 

 migrate to the extent of forsaking them in winter for the more con- 

 genial lower districts. Usually, however, no change of habitat with 

 varying season takes place, and, wherever it occurs in summer, it 

 is also to be seen in winter ; although the ever-restless bands cover 

 in their journeyings a radius of many miles, being seen here to-day, 

 to-moiTow there, according as their tastes suggest a change of diet, 

 or as mere caprice may urge. Thus they may often appear to have 

 migrated from a district w T hich in reality they have left only to re- 

 turn to in a few days. Its gregarious disposition is one of its most 

 marked and constant traits, and has been recorded by all who have 

 ever seen the species in the field. This close association of many 

 individuals appears to persist throughout the year, as well during 

 the breeding as at other seasons. 



Although so common and, in many respects, so well known a bird, 

 the acquaintance of most of its many observers has ceased with the 

 beginning of the nesting period, and it has been only within a com- 

 paratively short time that any information of its habits at this sea- 

 son has reached us. Mr. Ridgway was the first to supply any exact 



