218 CYANUBUS STELLEEI VAE. MACROLOPHUS. 



piiie-coDe, which he would sometimes wedge in a crotch, aud sometimes 

 hold under his feet. Though most at home in the pineries, where this 

 particular source of supply is unfailing, he often strays into the adjoining 

 oak openings, and into juniper patches, after acorns or berries, or to 

 pick a quarrel with \Yoodhouse's Jay and frighten the Sparrows. 

 Wherever he goes he has it pretty much his own way, hated and feared 

 by the other birds, whom he silences with a scream aud subdues by a 

 show of authority. But who of his kind has not enemies ? Cassin's 

 Flycatcher, almost as noisy and audacious, has many a set-to with him, 

 and even the nimble little Wood Pewees pester him sometimes. The 

 Woodpeckers tease him persistently ; they can scramble about faster 

 than he can follow, and laugh at him from the other side of a bough, 

 till he quite loses his temper. But after all our Jay has his good points, 

 and 1 confess to a sneaking sort of regard for him. An elegant, 

 dashing fellow, of good presence if not good manners ; a tough, wiry, 

 independent creature, with sense enough to take precious good care of 

 liimself, as any one who wants his skin will discover. As one approaches 

 the tall pine where he is rollicking, his restless, bright brown eye marks 

 the suspicious object. Now on the alert, he leaps like a squirrel from 

 bough to bough, till he reaches the top, when he is off with a scream 

 that makes the woods echo his triumph and disdain. It is of no use to 

 follow when he is thoroughly alarmed. But on some other occasion he 

 may be inclined to take another peep, lor his curiosity is great, and thus 

 expose himself through a rift in the foliage. This moment is the chance ; 

 and with the report of the gun comes his shriek of agony as he tumbles 

 all bloody from the bough he just mounted in 'pride and strength. 



The foregoing account maj^ be supplemented by Mr. Trippe's observa- 

 tions in Colorado, where he found the species "abundant and resident, 

 ranging up to timber-line and down to the plains, breeding, probably, 

 throughout — certainly from 7,000 feet up to timber-line. The Long- 

 crested Jay scarcely changes its habitat the year round, those living 

 highest up descending a little in the severest weather, but even in mid- 

 winter it IS common at elevations of 10,000 feet and over. This species 

 is known as the Blue Jay throughout the mountains, and is one of the 

 most abundant and conspicuous of all the birds. From its noisy famil- 

 iarity, its splendid plumage, and its universal presence in every locality, 

 it is quite sure to attract the attention of the tourist and stranger. It 

 has all the pertness, garrulity and vivacity, of the Eastern Blue Jay ; 

 and never being molested it becomes very tame, alighting close to the 

 door of the miner's cabin to pick up whatever crumbs and bits of food 

 it may happen to find, and evincing the same familiarity that G. cristata 

 displays in Iowa and Kansas. Its notes are harsh and jay-like — at times 

 guttural and rasping. Its favorite haunts are the valleys, aud hill-sides 

 thinly scattered with pines; yet it also frequents the densest pine forests, 

 and adapts itself to all localities. Its nest I could not find, nor even dis- 

 cover at what time of the year it breeds. It occasionally robs the nests 

 of other birds, like the Eastern Blue Jay. In December I found this 

 bird quite common in the valley of the Arkansas Eiver, near old Fort 

 Lyon aud the mouth of Sand Creek." 



The egg of Steller's Jay is pale, dull bluish-green, more or less thickly, 

 but usually quite uniformly, sprinkled all over with small olive-brown 

 aud clearer brown spots. Size, 1.25 by 0.85, to 1.35 by 0.90. 



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