AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



57 



LONG-CRESTED JAY. 



A. O. V. J^o. 4-7 8b. {Cytxnocitia jlelleri macrolopha~) 



RANGE. 



Western United States in the Rocky Mountains; north to Wyoming, 

 west to Utah, and south to Northern Mexico. It is a resident and breeds 

 wherever found. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Length, 12 inches; extent, 18 inches; tail, 6 inches; crest, nearly 3 

 inches. Bill and feet, black. Eye, dark brown. 



Adult male and female. — Entire head, crest and neck black, changing ta 

 a sooty brown on the back, and to a blue on the breast and rump. Wings 

 and tail rich indigo blue barred with black. The feathers on either side 

 of the forehead are tipped with bluish white. A spot of the same color 

 on both eyelids. 



Young. — Much more sooty, and the black bars on the wings are very 

 faint. 



NEST AND EGGS. 



These birds generally nest in small pines, not very high from the 

 ground, usually between six and twenty feet. The nest is composed of 

 small sticks and lined with fine roots and pine needles. The eggs are 

 four or five in number, of a greenish ground color, blotched with olive 

 brown and purple. 



HABITS. 



The Long-crested Jay while not equal in destructiveness and general 

 as handsome a bird as his eastern mischief making. They inhabit 

 relative, the Blue Jay, is fully his the mountain slopes, generally pre- 



