NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 73 



obsolete; four to six in number; size about 1.15 by .85. The nesting is 

 essentially the same as that of the Crow, though smaller trees and even 

 bushes are selected, and in fact any odd nook will often answer the pur- 

 pose. The nest is large and substantial, composed of twigs, coarse 

 grasses, and feathers. Breeds throughout its raage. 



Hab. Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay, west to the Central Plains. 



290. Steller's Jay — cyanocitta stelleri. Pale green, marked with 

 small olive brown spots; four to six in number; size 1.25 by .82; similar 

 to the eggs of the Long-crested Jay. Steller's Jay is an abundant bird in 

 all the wooded country between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific from 

 Oregon northward. The nest is large, loosely built of sticks, a layer of 

 mud and lined with black rootlets, placed in a bush or low tree, and some- 

 times in an elevated branch of a fir. 



290^:. Blue-fronted Jay — cyanocitta stelleri frontalis. One would, 

 with a general knowledge of the nesting habits of the Jays, look for their 

 nests in trees and bushes; but with the recent observations on the 

 habits of this bird by N. S. Goss, in the Auk, April, 1885, we have addi- 

 tional light thrown upon the subject. He found quite a number of nests 

 of the Blue-fronted Jay in the vicinity of Julian, California, in the spring 

 of 1884, and "in all cases but one, in holes and trough-like cavities in 

 trees and stubs, ranging from four to fifty feet from the ground, generally 

 ten to twenty feet. The nest found outside was built upon a large hori- 

 zontal limb of an oak close beside a gnarl, the sprout-like limbs of which 

 thickly covered the nest overhead, and almost hid it from view below." 

 They were quite bulky, loosely made of sticks, stems of weeds, and lined 

 with fibrous rootlets and grasses; and as they were all built at or near the 

 opening, the tell-tale sticks projected and made the finding of the nests 

 difficult. Mr. Goss gives the color of the eggs as light blue, speckled and 

 spotted with dark brown, rather thickest at large end, and the measure- 

 ments of two sets as follows: one taken May 19, 1,20 by ,8y, 1.20 by .88, 

 1. 2 1 by 88; May 21, 1.22 by .88, 1. 15 by .86, 1. 19 by .86, 1. 16 by .85. 

 Mr. W. O. Emerson informs me that he finds the nests in the vicinity of 

 Hay wards, Cal., placed in oaks, redwood, and other tall trees. 



290<:. Long-crested Jay — cyanocitta stelleri macrolopha. Light 

 green, with fine markings of dark olive-brown and lighter cloudings of pur- 

 plish or violet-brown ; the eggs are more elongated than those of the Blue 

 Jay. Their size range from 1.20 to 1.32 in length, by .80 to .89 in breadth. 

 This bird is found throughout the pine belt of the Rocky Mountain region 

 of United States, more especially southerly. The nest is placed in trees 



