332 LAND BIRDS 
side, these also binding it to the twigs and helping to 
hold it on the limb. So firmly is the whole put together 
and fastened to the branch that no storm can move it 
from its foundations. None of the nests were higher 
than twelve feet from the ground, and one was only eight 
feet up. They were in neighboring trees only about fifty 
yards apart. 
On the tenth of March three nests contained two 
and three eggs respectively ; incubation had begun, and 
silence reigned in Nutcracker Camp. Whichever bird 
happened to be on the nest was fed by the other, and in 
one instance I am positive that it was the female who 
brought food to her mate. I judged this because of her 
more fluffy, worn plumage and heavier build. Incuba- 
tion lasted eighteen days. The newly hatched young in 
these nests were naked and very dark bluish gray. I think 
those recorded by another observer as “ pied black and 
white”? must have been taken at a later date. When 
two weeks old they do look somewhat mottled, though 
I should describe it as light and dark dusky rather than 
black and white; or possibly whitish and dark gray 
would hit it nearer. They were fed on pifion nuts, 
which were carried to the nest and hulled by the adult 
while perched just outside on the branch. I could not 
discover that any other food was brought them. At first 
this was given by regurgitation, but when the young 
were a few days old the food was supplied to them 
direct. 
As soon as they were ready to leave the nest they 
were coaxed by short flights to the nut pines, and readily 
