OCT., !8nn.i BIRDS. 119 



65. Aplielocoma californica. California Jay. 



Fairly comniou at Sissoii, aud more abundant iu the lower country 

 farther north. Seen by Vernon Bailey near frazelle August .'>!, by 

 W. H. Osgood among the junipers in Shasta Valley September 17 to 

 20, and by me in the undergrowth along the edge of the open i)ine 

 and oak forest bordering the south end of Shasta Valley, where it 

 was fairly common, September -!!l. 



60. Perisoreus obscurus. Oregon fJay. 



Unaccountably rare on Shasta during our stay. On August 6, when 

 in a dei;se part of the forest east of the lower end of (iray Butte, I saw 

 a Hock of Steller jays, and with them several birds 1 took to be Oregon 

 jays in the dark plumage of the young. August 20 Vernon Bailey shot 

 one on Horse Camp Trail at an altitude of 6,600 feet, and two days later 

 saw ten iu the lir forest between Squaw Creek and Mud Creek Canyon. 

 September 28, on his way around the mountain, he saw three above the 

 ])oint where the wagon road crosses Ash Creek, at an altitude of about 

 5,000 feet, by far the lowest point at which the species was seen. On 

 July 29, IS99, Walter K. Fisher saw about 15 Oregon jays on Horse 

 Camp trail. 



In 1883 C. H. Townsend saw four small flocks (July 30 to September 7) 

 in the heavily timbered forests of Blount Shasta. 



67. Corvus americanus. Crow. 



A few seen at Sisson. In July, 1889, Walter K. Fisher found them 

 common in Shasta Valley. 



68. Nucifraga columbiana. Clark Crow; Nutcracker. 



Clark crows are among the most common, most characteristic, and 

 most interesting birds of the higher slopes of Shasta. In summer tliey 

 are closely restricted to the Hudsonian zone and adjacent rocky sloi)es 

 immediately above timberline, but in fall they wander far and wide in 

 search of food and are liable to be seen almost anywhere. Two or 

 three, apparently young of the year, visited Wagon Camp, at the lower 

 edge of the Shasta firs, as early as August 8; and in September it was 

 not unusual to see small flocks or single individuals flying over the 

 chaparral belt between Wagon Camp and Sisson. 



The usual food of the Clark crow — the large nut-like seeds of PiiiKS 

 alhicaulis — having failed in 1898, the birds were feeding mainly on 

 insects. The stomachs of specimens killed at extreme timberline con- 

 tained in some cases grasshoppers only, in others chiefly beetles (Oole- 

 optera); of those killed lower down, iu the alpine hemlocks and Shasta 

 firs, chiefly small hairless greenish caterpillars. They sometimes tlew 

 up to masses of yellow lichen, where they seemed to be picking out 

 something to eat. On upper Squaw Creek, August 30, two were seen 

 eating blueberries (F. A. M.). During hot afternoons the latter part 

 of July they were often seen soaring and performing aerial antics above 

 the forest, and also chasing insects in the air, launching out from the 

 tree tops after them like flycatchers. As a rule, they are silent Avhen 



