JAYS 391 



when standing over the young, no calls were uttered while the parents 

 were in the vicinity of the nest. There was a 'zone of quiet' about their 

 home, within which the owners would not call or raise any alarm. 



The California Jay shares with others of its tribe the reputation of 

 a plunderer of the nests of other birds. Both eggs and young are taken 

 in season, but usually the jays' persecution of the smaller species ends 

 by late summer. Mr. Donald D. McLean has told us, however, that on 

 one occasion in midwinter he saw a California Jay kill a Sierra Junco. 

 "While near Coulterville we heard and saw several demonstrations by 

 suspicious small birds caused by the presence of jays near the small birds' 

 nests. One jay seen hopping about in some hillside brush caused conster- 

 nation among some wren-tits and gnatcatchers which evidently had nesting 

 interests there. On another occasion a California Jay was seen to enter 

 a small blue oak and by a few vigorous hops ascend to the top of the tree, 

 where it perched in silence. Upon its arrival, a pair of Western Gnat- 

 catchers which had been in the same tree left off their foraging, and the 

 male of the pair began to swing in vertical pendulum-like arcs over the 

 jay's head, coming within 6 inches at each swoop and rising 2 or 3 feet 

 on either side. No note was uttered by either bird. The performance 

 evidently discomfited the jay to some extent, for it soon began to move. 

 For a while the gnatcatcher followed, continuing his swinging course. 

 The jay's passage from tree to tree was marked for some distance by the 

 movements of its demonstrative satellite. Eventually the jay made off in 

 rapid course and left its small tormentor behind. On another occasion, 

 a California Jay seen on the ground in search of insects was the center 

 of a similar but shorter demonstration by a Western Kingbird. 



The California Jay is surprisingly adaptable as regards its food habits ; 

 and yet it depends very largely upon a certain few items. In the nesting 

 season various insects are gathered in quantity, together with such eggs 

 and young of the smaller birds as opportunity offers. But the staple 

 diet of the species, during the interval between the close of one nesting 

 season and the beginning of the next, is derived from its favorite tree, 

 the oak. At El Portal in the fall months California Jays were seen on 

 several occasions carrying acorns in their bills. At times they would 

 obtain the nuts from the golden oaks on the south side of the river canon, 

 and then fly across the river, high overhead, each bird carrying one acorn 

 lengthwise in its bill. They flew eventually to the dry brush-covered slopes 

 which clothe the north wall of the caiion, and there, as was seen in several 

 instances, the acorns were buried, singly, in the ground. With vigorous 

 blows of the stout bill a jay would quickly excavate a steep-sided pit into 

 which he would thrust the nut, cover it over, and tamp the ground. 

 Sometimes leaves would be whisked over the spot, with evident intent 



