494 LAND BIRDS 
Young: Uniform dull grayish blue, lighter beneath. 
Geographical Distribution: Plateau regions of Western North America, 
from the Rocky Mountains west to the Pacific coast ranges, north to 
British Columbia, south to Lower California, Texas, and Mexico. 
California Breeding Range: In the pion belt of the desert ranges, 
southeast of the Sierra Nevada and locally along the whole length 
of the Sierra Nevada from Mt. Shasta to the San Bernardino 
mountains. — 
Breeding Season: March 15 to May 15. 
Nest: 5 to 12 feet from the ground; deep, bulky and compact; com- 
posed of pifion, sagebrush, shreds of bark ; lined with fibre, rootlets, 
and dry grasses thoroughly woven together. 
Eggs: 3 to 5; bluish white, entirely covered with fine specks of brown, 
and sometimes with larger spots and blotches at the larger end. Size 
1.19 X 0.87. 
Tue Pifion Jay is also called Nutcracker, Blue Crow, 
and Pifiario by the Mexicans, in reference to its fondness 
for the nuts of the variety known as pifion. It is a 
haunter of the pifion-covered foot-hills, and scarcely ever 
roves into the higher coniferous forests. | Eminently 
social at all times, it is found in flocks of hundreds 
feeding upon the ground after the fashion of blackbirds, 
and like them constantly in motion, — those in the rear 
flying over those feeding ahead of them and alighting in 
front of the flock. In this way they progress from place 
to place, and collectors who know this peculiarity hide 
along the route to wait for a good shot. Their constant 
chatter can be heard a long distance, and betrays their 
approach. They are occasionally seen in company with 
Clarke nutcrackers in the pifion groves ; but, although 
they are great rangers, here to-day and gone to-morrow, 
they do not follow the latter in their vertical migration 
to the high altitudes, nor are they commonly found 
north of latitude 40°. 
