120 



NOHTir AMERICAX FAUNA. 



[no. 16. 



t"eeclin<4' and noisy when tlyinj;" about the white bark ])ines. ^\'hen on 

 the ground they are very deliberate, and tlicir broad heads and general 

 form suggest gulls, particularly when tlie birds are moving away from 

 the (>l)server, 



AN'hen searching for insects in the young licndocks they sonictiincs 

 began at the bottom and worked up, sometimes at the tnp and \\i»rked 

 down. One day in early .Vugust a young-or the-year, showing the trne 

 nutcracker s[)ots on the breast, spent some time in camp, feeding in a 

 small tree in our midst without showing the least annoyance at our 

 presence, lie began at the top and worked slowly downward, drop- 

 ping from branch to branch and ])eering searchingly over the foliage 

 and into the tutts of hemlock needles, often hanging almost bottom 



Fui. 39. — Clark Crow (Siicifrni.a culumhutna). Urawn )iy L. A. I'liciles 



side up to i)ick olf the small green caterpillars which infested both the 

 hemlocks and tlie Shasta lirs. We could plainly see him grasp the lit- 

 tle caterpillars crosswise and give a big gulp in swallowing them, as if 

 bolting something several times as large, lie went over a branch at a 

 time, examining tlie whole of it carefully beloi-e moving to the one 

 below, and sometimes went out so far towaid the tip that the slender 

 branch bent down with his weight. Another bird reversed this order 

 of i)roce(lure, and after finally reaching the top of the tree gave a 

 Jump, aided by a slight flap of the wings, and i)erched on the very top- 

 most sprig, when, gaining his balance, he oix'ued his bill and uttered 

 a little cry of exultation. 



(!lark crows were almost daily visitors to our camp among the alpine 

 hendocks on u])per Scpiaw Creek until near the end of August, when 



