226 Benpire ox the Nest and Eggs of Clarke's Nutcracker. [July 
prefers pine lands for nesting. I also conclude that there is a 
neutral strip upon which neither form is found during May and 
June, and further, that about the only way to identify a Shrike of 
this species is to take it on its breeding grounds during the breed- 
Ing season. 
PICICORVIIS  COLOMELAN ES. {(NVMES =) 
CLARKE’S NUTCRACKER. ITS 
NEST AND EGGS, ETE. 
BY CAPT. CHARLES E. BENDIRE. 
Turovucu the kindness of that indefatigable naturalist, Mr. 
Denis Gale, of Gold Hill, Colorado, I am enabled to give to the 
readers of ‘The Auk’ his observations on the habits of Clarke’s 
Nutcracker during the breeding season, as well as a good pen 
picture of the nest and eggs, taken by him March 5, 1888, he 
having, with his usual generosity, presented both to the National 
Museum collection. Since I described the nest and eggs of this 
species in Vol.I of the ‘ Bulletin’ of the Nuttall Ornithological 
Club, July, 1876, page 44, and again more fully in the April and 
May numbers of the ‘ Ornithologist and Odlogist,’ pages 105-107 
and 113-114, no other nest with eggs has-been found, as far as I 
am aware, and the only account I can find of the taking of one 
since then, which, however, contained young only, is that of 
Capt. B. F. Goss, of Pewaukee, Wisconsin, published in the 
‘Bulletin’ of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. VIII, Jan. 
1883, pages 44 and'45. 
Mr. Gale’s notes read as follows: “ On Feb. 16, 1888, while 
passing down a mountain trail, my attention was drawn to the 
peculiar note of alarm given by this bird, Péctcorvus colum- 
édcanus —not unlike that of our Jay or Magpie — which was 
promptly answered by its companion. I discovered the birds in 
separate trees, about fifteen yards distant from each other, and 
probably fifty yards from where I was standing. Upon closer 
inspection I perceived that both birds had twigs in their bills. 
They watched each other, and me as well, for perhaps ten min- 
