THE THICK-BILLED NUTCRACKER. 25 



spots smaller and much less conspicuous ; back uniform brown ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts with narrow whitish fringes ; under- 

 parts with white tips not so pear-shaped and less sharply defined ; 

 throat usually whitish with little brown showing ; tail- and \\'ing- 

 feathers and wing-coverts browner and less glossed ; primary, 

 greater and median ^ing-co verts all with white tips ; 6th and 7th 

 primaries sometimes witliout white mark on inner webs. 



First winter. Male and female. — Like adults but primaries, 

 secondaries, and wing-coverts browner and less glossed, and 

 primary, greater, and median wing-coverts all with white tips ; 

 6th and 7th primaries sometimes without \^'llite mark on inner 

 web. The juvenile body-plumage, lesser and median coverts 

 are moulted July and August, but not tail- and wing-feathers 

 and primary- and greater coverts. Summer. — Tail, wings, and 

 wing-coverts become very bro^^ n, and white spots mostly wear off 

 greater coverts. 



Measurements and structure. — (^ wing 173-194, tail 115-136, 

 tarsus 40-45, bill from nostril 34-40, depth at angle 14-16 (13 

 measured). $ wing 175-190, bill depth at angle 13-15. Primaries : 

 1st about twice primary-coverts, 5th longest, 4th and 6th often 

 equal but generally 1-3 mm. shorter, 3rd 5-12 shorter, 2nd between 

 7th and 9th ; 3rd to 6th clearly emarginated outer webs. 

 Secondaries between 9th and 10th or shorter, tips rounded. Tail 

 slightly rounded laterally. Rictal and nasal bristles, latter covering 

 nostrils but not so long as in Corvus. 



Soft parts. — Bill, legs and feet black ; iris brown. 



Characters and allied forms. — Chocolate-brown plumage, 

 spotted A^hite, is unmistakable specific distinction. For difference 

 of N. c. macrorhynchus see p. 27 ; other forms in Japan, Turkestan, 

 Kamtschatka and India differ in size of white spots of body-plumage 

 and white tips of tail or ^ings, or in darker coloration. 



Field-characters. — Shape not unlike Rook, with long bill ; 

 plumage mottled ; A\hite tips of widely spread tail-feathers very 

 noticeable in flight. Flight dipping ; stronger than Jay. Note, 

 monosyllabic " gurrrr " or " kurrrr " repeated five to eight 

 times, but Saunders says it has another note like a sprung rattle 

 (F.C.R.J.). 



Breedjng-habits. — Nest. — Always in coniferous forest, generally 

 near trunk at about 15 or 18 ft. from ground. Built of twigs, 

 moss, and lichens, solidified with earth, lined thick layer of grass 

 and hairy lichen {Usnea harhata). Eggs. — Usually 3, sometimes 

 .4, and occasionally only 2 ; ground-colour pale bluish-green, with 

 fine olive-brown and grey spots. (Some finely-speckled varieties 

 of Jackdaw's eggs approach them closely, but usually have darker 

 markings.) Average of 100 eggs 33*9 X 25 mm. Breeding -season. — 

 Begins about second week March in central Europe, and April 



