396 Cameron, Birds of Custer & Dawson Counties, Mont. [oct* 



but, on July 2, when only one full-fledged bird remained out of the five, 

 I recognized the work of some other destructive and more mysterious 

 agency. As there was no trace of the nestlings on the ground near the 

 tree, and the nest was invisible from the outside, it was my belief that 

 winged marauders, such as Marsh Hawks, must be responsible, although 

 none of their kind had been seen near this badland grove. Certainly 

 there were Sparrow Hawks, but the massacre of these innocents seemed 

 alien to their habits when grasshoppers swarmed, as at the time in question. 

 Wishing to save the last Jay fledgling and, if possible, solve the mystery, 

 I sat down to watch with my field glasses on a deer trail where it wound 

 near the summit of a steep distant butte. After a long wait my patience 

 was rewarded by seeing a pair of Northern Shrikes fly straight to the Jays' 

 tree. On this occasion the parents were at hand, and, assailing the mis- 

 creants with sharp cries, compelled them to retreat. I held the key, how- 

 ever, to this tragedy of the badlands, and I felt convinced that the sole 

 survivor would untimately follow its brothers and sisters. 



Pifion Jays subsist chiefly on pine seeds, which they extract from the 

 cones, and also on the soft embryonic cones themselves, detaching these 

 with their tapering bills from the tasselled parent stem. Like Magpies, 

 however, they are practically omnivorous, and a Pifion Jay has been known 

 to meet its fate in a wolf trap by which destructive instrument so many of 

 the former have perished. Like Magpies, too, Pifion Jays come about the 

 ranch house in the hope of receiving scraps from the table, alighting but 

 two or three yards from the door, or on the hitching post where the horses 

 are tied. They are also very fond of insect food, and may be seen walking 

 about as they turn over dried cattle manure is search of coleoptera. Mr. 

 Dan Bowman informs me that in his locality (Knowlton) soft corn on the 

 cob has a great attraction for them. 



It is an interesting sight in June, to watch a flock of some hundred or 

 more Pifion Jays which contains a large proportion of the newly fledged 

 young. After the latter can fly well they still expect the parents to feed 

 them, and clamor incessantly to be fed, repeating their shrill monotonous 

 cry of wauck on a single note, whether on the ground or in the pine branches, 

 voracious, open-mouthed fledglings walk towards the parents, flapping 

 their newly acquired wings to attract attention. The old birds may then 

 be seen supplying them with grubs and insects. I observed one female 

 feed a single offspring on the ground several times in a few minutes. In 

 midwinter, Pifion Jays seek deep ravines and love to sun themselves either 

 on a bank or in the branches of low cedars which grow there. When thus 

 sheltered these noisy, restless birds will sit motionless for some time 

 without calling to each other. At this season their food seems to consist 

 entirely of cedar berries. 



110. Molothrus ater. Cowbird. — Abundant summer resident of both 

 counties, arriving in April. The manner in which Cowbirds associate with 

 horses and cattle is no less interesting than remarkable. I have often 

 noticed at my ranch (Custer Co.), when a saddle horse was turned loose, 



