418 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



are lined with dry cow and horse dung, cattle or horse hair, dry leaves, eel- 

 grass, and shreds of cedar bark, while pine needles seem to be present to some 

 extent in most of them. They are mostly placed in evergreens, such as pines 

 and cedars, and generally in the tops, either in natural forks or on horizontal 

 limbs, close to the trunk, usually 20 to 50 feet from the ground. They prefer 

 to nest near water, but occasionally a pair will be found making an excep- 

 tion to this rule, and nests have been found fully 2 miles away from the nearest 

 stream or swamp. Both sexes assist in incubation, which lasts from sixteen to 

 eighteen days, while the young remain in the nest about three weeks. Only 

 one brood is raised in a season, but if the first set of eggs is taken* they will 

 lay another, and not infrequently in the same nest. The eggs number four or 

 five to a set, very rarely more. These are miniature counterparts of those of 

 the Common Crow, showing the same range of variation in shape and markings, 

 and one description will answer for both species, excepting only the pinkish- 

 colored eggs of the* former. I have not seen this peculiar tint among the eggs 

 of this species. 



The average measurement of forty-six eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 37.17 by 26.97 millimetres, or about 1.46 by 1.06 inches. 

 The largest egg of the series measures 41.66 by '25.40 millimetres, or 1.64 by 

 1 inches; the smallest, 35.05 by 25.65 millimetres, or 1.38 by 1.01 inches. 



The type specimen, No. 23745 (PI. 4, Fig. 16), from a set of four eggs, was 

 taken near Washington, District of Columbia, on May 9, 1887, while No. 25271 

 (PL 4, Fig. 17), from a set of five, was taken in Northampton County, Virginia, 

 on May 25, 1891. Both were collected by Mr. Theo. W. Richards, and represent 

 the light and dark colored types found among the eggs of this species. 



166. Nucifraga columbiana (Wilson). 



CLAEKE'S NUTCRACKER. 



Corvus'columbianus Wilson, American Ornithology, III, 1811, 29, PI. 20, Fig. 3. 

 Nucifraga columbiana Audubon, Ornithological Biography, IV, 1S38, 459, PL 362. 

 (B 430, C 230, R 284, C 344, U 491.) 



Geographical range : Mountainous portions of western North America; from 

 Arizona and New Mexico north to northern Alaska (Kowak or Putnam River); east to 

 and along the eastern slopes of the Rocky "Mountains to the Black Hills, South Dakota; 

 casual in southeastern Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas. 



Clarke's Nutcracker, more generally known as "Clarke's Crow," and in 

 some localities as "Meat Bird," "Moose Bird," and "Camp Robber," ranges 

 throughout the mountain regions of western North America, reaching the south- 

 em limits of its habitat in about the northern half of New Mexico and Arizona; 

 to the eastward it reaches the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the 

 outlying spurs of this range, as the Black Hills in western South Dakota, while 

 to the north it has been met with by Lieut. George M. Stoney, United States 



