24 Proceedings of the 



reminded me of nothing so much as a young Red-headed 

 Woodpecker in that its flight was markedly woodpecker- 

 like and its grayish body and head and its black wings and 

 tail with white on secondaries gave it, at least superficially, 

 a very close resemldance to the bird mentioned. The next 

 day I saw a single individual which was sitting in fhe top 

 of a tall pine and uttering its peculiar " charr-charr, " a 

 note totally distinct from that of any other bird I have 

 ever heard. The following day, November 29, I saw a pair 

 and secured one of them. All the occurrences of this bird 

 noted were at the heads of the canyons on the high plateau. 



19. Cyanocephalns cyanocephalus (Wied) — Pinion Jay. 



The Pinion Jay is even more thoroughly disliked by the 

 ranchmen than is the magpie. It is abundant and goes 

 about in flocks of many hundreds and even thousands. These 

 flocks will alight upon grain fields and, the ranchmen claim, 

 materially injure the crops in a very short time. The birds 

 are not particularly wary but are somewhat difficult to 

 approach at times owing to their restless nature which 

 keeps them constantly moving. I have been standing in 

 the line of approach of a flock of Pinion Jays and had them 

 settle all around and within a foot or two of me and not 

 show the least sign of fear when I moved around among 

 them. They would turn and peer at me and were full of 

 curiosity. Even when I shot they would merely rise, wheel 

 around with loud outcries for a moment or so and then 

 settle down and continue their activities as if nothing had 

 happened to distui% them. Their high, nasal "kree-kree-" 

 or "karee-karee-", repeated rapidly many times in suc- 

 cession or long drawn out, was a very familiar sound. The 

 birds were seldom seen in the deciduous growth but seemed 

 to prefer to keep to the pine covered hills, and there their 

 dull bluish and faint white coloration showed rather prettily 

 against the dark green foliage. 



20. Sturnellaneilecta Audubon — ^Western Meadowlark. 



November 27 numbers of these birds were in evidence 

 arovind Crawford. None were seen on the high plateau, and 

 when I returned to Crawford the ones which had been there 

 were gone, proba'bly driven away by a blizzard which had 

 raged a few days before. 



