518 ORNIXnOLOGY. 



different from those of the more famihar species of this family. It is as 

 essentially migratory as the Passenger Pigeon (Ectopistes iiiifjratoria) of the 

 east, its appearance in and departure from a locality being equally sudden. 

 We have often visited a nut-pine woods and found it one day full of 

 noisy, roving troops, and the next as gloomy and silent as if a bird had 

 never made its appearance there. in I'all and winter, tlie large flocks, 

 as thev sweep back and t'ortli over the scantily-wnodcd foot-hills, arc sure 

 to attiact the attention of a stranger to the country, not merely from their 

 appearance, but the more so from the fact that their peculiar i)iping notes 

 oipe'-2)e'-tVf',pe'-2)e'-ivr,2)e'-2)e'-we are often the only sound which l)reaks the 

 solitude of these desolate regions, and would thus catch the ear of the most 

 unobservant person. 



In its manners, Maximilian's Jay resembles Clarke's Nutcracker (Pici- 

 corvus) more than any other bird, the chief difference being its migratory 

 nature, the latter being of very sedentary habits. Most of its movements 

 are quite similar, its attitude being much the same as it sits iqjon the 

 summit of a small cedai-, quietly reconnoiterlng, while it also frequently 

 alights upon the ground to pick up a fallen pine-seed or cedar-berry. Its 

 flight, however, is strikingly different, being almo.st exactly like that of the 

 Robin (Turdiis migratonu.i) — a gliding flight, with the wings rather inclined 

 downward and the iiead raised — but is perhaps rather swifter. Tiie various 

 notes have all a striking character; the usual one resembles somewhat the 

 tremulous, querulous wailing of the little Screech (3wl {Sco2)s asio), but is 

 louder, less guttural, and more plaintive, whih- another is something like 

 the soft love-note of the Magpie (Pica hudsonica); besides, there is the 

 peculiar piping whistle of pe'-wee, pe' , described above, and usually uttered 

 durinjj the migration of a flock. 



'Die breeding-season of this bird is remarkaldy early; for on the 21st 

 of April, before we had thouglit of looking for their nests, f\dl-grown young 

 were flying about in a cedar and pinon grove near Carson City. In this 

 grove we found the abandoned nests, perhaps a hundi-ed or more in number, 

 and also one containing young nearly ready to liy: l)ut we were too late for 

 tiie eggs. These nests \vere all saddled upon the horizontal branches, at a 

 . height of eight or ten feet from the ground, and, except that they were 



