iSS3. 



Goss 071. Maxuniltans Jay atid Clai'ke's Crotv. A'2 



loi. Larus atricilla. Laughing Gull. — Nests on high sand near 

 the beaches; eggs three. June lo. 



102. Sterna regia. Royal Tern. — Nests on high sand ; eggs three. 

 No dates. 



103. Sterna cantiaca acuflavida. Cabot's Tern. — Nests on sand. 

 No dates. 



104. Sterna antillarum. Least Tern. — Eggs three, laid on the 

 high sand near sea. June 18. 



NOTES ON THE BREEDING HABITS OF MAXIMIL- 

 IAN'S JAY ( G TMNO CITTA C 7'ANO CE PHALA) 

 AND CLARKE'S CROW {PICICORVUS COLUM- 

 BIAN US) . 



BY B. F. GOSS. 



In May, 1S79, I took nine sets of the eggs of Maximilian's Jay 

 in Colorado. Their nests were all found within from five to nine 

 miles east and southeast of Fort Garland. This region lies along 

 the western base of the Sangre de Christo Mountains, is broken 

 by hills and spurs from the main range, and has an elevation of 

 about 9000 feet. The nests were all in high, open situations, 

 two of them well up the steep mountain sides, and none in valleys 

 or thick timber. All were in small pifion pines from five to ten 

 feet up, out some distance from the body of the tree, and not 

 particularly well-concealed. They are large, coarse, and deeply 

 hollowed structures, muchalike, being made mostly of grayish 

 shreds of some fibrous plant, or bark, which breaks up into a 

 mass of hair-like fibres, these forming the lining, while some 

 weeds and grass are worked into the general fabric. I did not 

 measure any of them before removal, and afterwards accurate 

 measurement could not be made, as, being loosely constructed, 

 they spread and flattened. They must have been about as deep 

 as wide, deep enough to receive the whole body of the bird, only 

 part of the head and tail showing above the edge. The birds are 

 close sitters, several not leaving till the nest was shaken, and I 

 could have caught some of them with my hand. On being driven 

 from the nest, thev would alight on an adjoining limb, and, with 



