TUE ARIZONA JAY. 381 



twenty or thirty, in fact it is rare to see one alone. They are exceedingly 

 restless, constantly on the move, prying into this or that, spending a good por- 

 tion of their time on the ground, now hopping on a low limb, and the next minute 

 down again, twitching their tails almost constantly. Then- call notes are harsh 

 and far-reaching, and are somewhat similar to those of the California Jay. 

 They are as great robbers of the eggs and young of smaller birds as the former. 

 The other birds inhabiting the same suiToimdings and ])uilding open nests must 

 certainly have a hard time of it in rearing their young. 



Tlieir food consists of grasshoppers and insects of various kinds, animal 

 matter when obtainable, wild fruits, seeds, and especially acorns. The latter 

 probaljly form the bulk of tlieir subsistence throughout the greater portion of the 

 year. In the Suharita Pass, between the Santa Catalina and the Rincon moun- 

 tains, near Tucson, Arizona, I noticed about twenty feeding on the fig-like fruit 

 of the suahara, of which, like many other birds, they seemed to be very fond. 

 Their Hight appears to me to be far less laborious than that of the California 

 Jay. It reminds me of that of some of our Raptores, rising now high in the air, 

 partly closing their wings, and then darting suddenly down, then up again, and 

 repeating these movements for some time. In southern Arizona the mating 

 season begins about the end of Fel^ruary, and nidificatioii follows soon after. 



According to observations made by Mr. W. E. D. Scott, the Arizona Jay 

 sometimes does not commence laying until fully two weeks after the nest has 

 been completed, and again builds an additional nest close to the first, without 

 occupying it. A nest is described by him as follows: "It was built in an oak 

 sapling, about 10 feet from the ground, and is composed of dry rootlets laid 

 very loosely in concentric rings, and with little or no attempt at weaving 

 together. There is nothing like a lining, and the walls of the structm-e have an 

 average thickness of about tlu-ee-cpiarters of an inch. The interior diameter is 

 5 inches, and the greatest interior depth is 1| inches. The whole fabric recalls 

 to mind a rather deep saucer. The nest was not built in a crotch, but where 

 several small branches and twigs leave the large branch (1^ inches in diameter) 

 which forms the main support. All the other nests I have seen resemble this 

 one so closely that this description will answer for tliem."^ 



A nest of this species, taken by Lieut. II. C. Benson, United States Army, 

 on April 6, 1887, differs somewhat from those described by Mr. Scott. It is 

 composed outwardly of small sticks and twigs; next comes a layer of fine root- 

 lets, well woven together — this mass is alone over half an inch in thickness — 

 and, finally, the inner nest is lined with a liberal supply of horsehair. It is well 

 constructed, and measures about 10 inches across externally by 4 inches in 

 depth; the inner diameter is about 4 J by 2 inches in depth. 



The nest and eggs of the Arizona Jay were first discovered by Mi-. F. 

 Stephens, near Fort Bayard, New Mexico, on April 29, 1876, and since then 

 he has found it breeding in the Chiricahua and Santa Rita mountains; he con- 

 siders it a foothill bird, not going far into the pines and not appearing on the 

 plains. 



'The Auk, Vol. Ill, 1886, p. 81. 



