WOODHOUSE'S JAY. $73 



Mr. Scott found Woodhouse's Jay a common and resident species at the 

 head waters of Mineral Creek, and also common in the foothills of the Catalina 

 Mountains, in southern Arizona. He says: " It frequently associates with A2ohe- 

 locoma sieherii arizonce, but it is not so gregarious as that species. Breeds in late 

 April and May, and I think but one brood is reared. As far as I am able to 

 judge, this species does not range below 3,000 nor above 5,000 feet in the foot- 

 hills of the Catalina Mountains. I have not met with it at other points than 

 those indicated in the Pinal and Catalina mountains."^ 



Like the rest of the Jay family, the notes of Woodhouse's Jay are quite 

 varied and not tinlike those of the California Jay. Its food also is similar, and 

 in regions where oaks or nut pines are abundant consists principally of the fruit 

 of these trees, various insects, and presumably also of the young and eggs of 

 smaller birds. They are apparently equally as adept at thieving as are the 

 better-known . species of this family, and probably do fully as much damage. 

 They range tip to an altitude of 7,000 feet in summer. 



Capt. W. L. Carpenter, United States Army, found it breeding near Prescott, 

 Arizona, on June 6, 1891, and writes as follows: "The nest was placed about 

 5 feet from the ground, in the center of thick brush, and was difficult to reach. It 

 was found on a brush-covered ridge, cut up by ravines, covered with oak, lemon- 

 berry, manzanita, juniper, yucca, prickly pear, mescal, and other growths which 

 contribute to the appearance of a northern Arizona landscape, about 100 feet 

 above a small valley through which flowed a rivulet. The parents remained 

 in the vicinity, screaming harshly, bounding through the juniper trees, and trying 

 for a long while to di-aw me away. When I finally located the nest, finding 

 further deception useless, the one which I took to be the female disappeared ; the 

 other then perched within 10 feet of me and peered at me silently, with his 

 head cocked on one side, an interested spectator of fui-ther proceedings. As 

 we watched each other so closely I could not forbear saying, ' Ah, yes, my fine 

 fellow, you are right ; we are a pair of robbers. How many birds' nests have 

 you robbed this morning and devoured the young, too f When I had seciu-ed 

 the nest and packed the eggs away, he flew off with loud screams, no doubt 

 intended for Jay-like anathemas, which I could but feel were well merited." 



The nests are placed in scrub oaks, pifions, and thick shrubbery, usually but 

 a short distance from the ground and not far from water. The nest taken by 

 Captain Carpenter, which is before me, is composed of a slight platform of very 

 crooked interlaced twigs, and on these is placed a lining of fine roots and some 

 horsehair. No mud is used in its construction. The lining is about three- 

 fom-ths of an inch in thickness. Compared with other Jays' nests this is a 

 rather small structure, and not nearly as deep. It measures about 7 inches in 

 outer diameter by 4 inches in depth, and the inner cup 3 J inches in diameter by 

 2 inches in depth. 



In the more southern portions of their range nidification begins in the latter 

 part of March or the first week in April, varying somewhat according to altitude. 



'The Auk, Vol. IV, 1887, p. 20. 



