1484 



THE PERCHING BIRDS 



The Nut- 

 crackers 



The genus Nucifraga contains only four species, three of which are 

 designated nutcrackers from their partiality for nuts and other fruits. 

 The American representative of the genus is Clarke's crow (N. colum- 

 biana), a plain gray colored bird with glossy black wings, most of the secondaries 

 broadly tipped with white, and the tail white, with the exception of the black cen- 

 tral feathers. This unspotted bird ranges through the coniferous woods of Western 

 America, nesting in high pines in mountainous and northerly localities. 



NUTCRACKER AND SIBERIAN JAY. 



( One-third natural size.) 



The nutcrackers of the Old World are birds of well-marked form and color, not 

 only sharing the possession of a long, straight, pointed bill with their American 

 relative, and a black-and-white tail which is always conspicuous in flight, long 

 wings, nostrils covered with bristly feathers, but exhibiting, in a special degree, a 

 general uniformity of coloration among themselves, all three species being constantly 



