BLUE OR METALLIC BLUE AQ5 
In the summer grasshoppers, insects caught on the 
wing, and fruit form their bill of fare. They seem to 
lack the cannibalistic tendencies of their family, and do 
not, so far as I have observed or can learn, meddle with 
the broods of other birds. 
The call-notes of the Pifion Jay are as varied as those 
of the Eastern jay and very like them in character. A 
harsh “ j-a-a-h,’ a guttural chuck, and some soft, low 
notes uttered at the nest to mate or young are the 
sounds most characteristic. 
Late in March or early in April they commence to 
build their bulky nests in full view, on the horizontal 
limbs of a nut pine or a juniper tree, usually within ten 
feet of the ground. The framework consists of twigs of 
juniper, nut pine, or sagebrush, and is lined with fine 
rootlets, bark shredded very fine, and moss or grass. 
Both sexes share in the incubation, which lasts sixteen 
days. In devotion to mate and young they rival the 
nutcrackers, and feed the nestlings long after they are 
able to provide for themselves. Like young nutcrackers, 
they are born naked, but are greener in hue. They re- 
main about the same length of time (twenty-two days) 
in the nest, and learn to extract the sweet kernels of the 
pinion nuts before they leave it. They are also fed quite 
as fully on grasshoppers from which legs and wings have 
been carefully removed. As soon as able to fly they unite 
with other families in large flocks, and forage from place 
to place with the roving habits of their species. 
