518 ORNITHOLOGY. 



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

 essentially migratory as the Passenger Pigeon {Ectopistes mifjraforia) of the 

 cast, its appearance in and departnre from a locality being equally sudden. 

 \\\' lia\e often visited a, nut-jjine woods and found it one dny full of 

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

 never made its appearance there. In fall and winter, the large tlocks, 

 as they sweep back and forth over the scantily-wooded foot-hills, arc sure 

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

 appearance, but the more so from the fact that their peculiar piping notes 

 of pe'-pe'-we,pe'-pe'-we, pc'-pr'-irr are often the only sound which breaks 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 

 nattu-e, the latter being of very sedentary habits. Most of its movements 

 are quite similar, its attitude being nmch the same as it sits upon the 

 summit of a small cedar, quietly reconnoitering, while it also frequently 

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

 flight, however, is strikingly different, being almost exactly like that of tlie 

 Ri)])in (Tiinlu.s Diif/ratorius) — a gliding flight, with the wings rather inclined 

 downward and the head raised — but is perhaps rather swifter, 'ilie various 

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

 tremulous, querulous wailing of the little Screech Owl {Scojis asio), but is 

 louder, less guttural, and more plaintive, while another is something like 

 the soft love-note of the Magpie {Pica hudsonicd); besides, thei'e is the 

 peculiar piping whistle of pe'-ivee, pc' , described al)Ove, and usually uttered 

 during the migration of a flock. 



The breeding-season of this bird is remarkably early; for on the 21st 

 of April, before wo had thought of looking for their nests, iull-grown young 

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

 grove we found the abandoned nests, perhaps a hundred or more in immber, 

 and also one containing young nearly ready to fly; but wc; wei-e too late for 

 the eggs. These nests were all saddled n])on the horizontal branches, at a 

 height of eight or ten feet from the crround, and, excent that thev were 



