Jan., 1907 MAGPIES ON THE LA PLATA 11 



est, tho I found one against the trunk of a cottonwood only five feet from the 

 ground, while the tree was at least fifty feet tall. Nests in willows, (aks and 

 birches were nearest the ground. The high nests were those in trees located along 

 a highway, or in a lone tree on the mesa or in a clearing. The low nests were 

 nearly always in trees or shrubs in a thicket, or else in wet marshy ground, hard 

 to get at. The nest only four feet high was in a willow that stood on a tiny 

 marshy island in a pool of stagnant water. One, five feet high, was in a willow 

 on very boggy ground, with stagnant pools on three sides of it. One exception 

 was a nest six feet fron: the ground in a cottonwood tree alongside of a much 

 used wood road. But as this nest had only four eggs, the parents were probably 

 not very particular whether their family matured or not. But it did, and made a 

 safe get-away in spite of the low and exposed situation. 



The birds did not seem very shy while building, and were rather in evidence 

 when the nest contained eggs. But when the eggs were hatched! The old birds 

 would come and perch on a branch just over my head or at one side barely be- 

 yond arm's length and tell me what they thought of me. And the way they swore 

 at me was something fierce — if it was not swearing I'm no judge of profanity! 

 Several times a bird only four feet from my head would savagely peck the branch 

 on which he, or she, perhaps, sat, all the while muttering various kinds of threats. 

 And if I picked up a young one their wrath was beyond expression. They 

 would call in all the neighbors within a radius of half a mile to help make 

 "war medicine." 



The nests varied but little in material or manner of construction, all having 

 the well-defined arch of twigs over the nest and the entrance at one side. Some- 

 times the arch was well connected with the nest proper, allowing insertion of the 

 hand only at the entrance; while with other nests the hand could be thrust thru 

 the "siding" quite easily. There seemed quite a difference in the size of nests 

 and amount of material used. Some were large and well built, the walls being 

 quite firm and the arch so dense that such nests had remained intact for a long 

 time. Others were small, and quite frail and flimsy, particularly the superstruct- 

 ure — contract work, I presume! I noticed that the earlier nests were the well 

 built ones while the late ones were inferior. I do not mean to say that all the late 

 ones were inferior, but all the inferior ones were late. I think the birds build 

 anew each year, as I saw no repairing done and all nests occupied were new 

 ones. The great number of old nests in a good state of preservation made much 

 work in examining; as often, until I attained some degree of expertness, I would 

 climb up a difficult tree and find the nest to be a last year's one. Twice I was 

 rewarded, however, as the old nest was occupied by long-eared owls. All the 

 nests had thick plastered walls, well lined with rootlets and horsehair. It is a 

 puzzle to me where the birds find so many rootlets when the ground is covered 

 with snow. 



The eggs were nearly uniform in size, coloring and markings, and seemed 

 quite small tor a bird of the magpie's dimensions. They greatly resemble the 

 eggs of the Brewer blackbird, and also those of the California crow, in color and 

 marking, and are between the two in size — nearer the blackbird, tho. Of the 

 great number of eggs examined I found but one infertile, and only one with the 

 heavier markings at the small end, "bald-headed eggs" the boys call them. 



The magpies, with their striking black and white coloration, are a feature of 

 the landscape, or, rather, "snowscape," as it might well be called, for about half 

 the year. A southern Californian's involuntary thought on first sight of the 



