"■ii^ 



264 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



ant bird. Its general habits and nesting are in nowise peculiar, being 

 similar to those of others of the family. 



The nest is usually a large, bulky structure, placed on the bough 

 of a spruce or other evergreen. It is made of twigs, pine-needles, 

 bark-strips and grasses, lined with finer vegetable material and 

 feathers. The nesting time in Northern Maine and New Brunswick 

 is March and April. The eggs are light gray, with a yellowish tinge, 

 finely marked, more abundantly at the larger end with dots and 

 blotches of slate color and brown, and faint cloudings of an obscure 

 lilac, exhibiting the usual variations in color and size found in the 

 eggs of other Jays; four or five in number; average size, 1.17X.80. 



484a. Perisoreus canadensis capltalis Baird [297a!.] 



Kocky Mountain Jay. 



Hab. Rocky Mountains, south to Arizona and New Mexico. 



This bird is called the White-headed Jay or Rocky Mountain 

 Whisky Jack — a race of the Canada Jay, but very much different. It 

 is peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, and is especially common 

 in Northern New Mexico and Colorado. In the breeding season it is 

 found high up in the mountains in the spruce timber, from 8000 feet 

 to timber line. He is said to be "as big a thief as ever wore feathers." 

 White-headed, he at times appears grave and sedate, but is always 

 possessed of a whimsical brain. Small articles around camp that 

 strike his fancy are always found missing after one of his visits. 



Nest-building is begun usually in April. The site generally 

 chosen is the horizontal branch of a pine, varying in height from fifty 

 to sixty feet from the ground. The materials are twigs, pine-needles, 

 bark, grasses and hempen fibres, all compactly interwoven into a rude, 

 bulky but strong structure ; it is warmly lined with the feathers and 

 down of birds. The external height is about four inches, and the 

 diameter seven ; the cavity about two inches deep and four across. 

 The eggs are three to five in number, grayish-white in ground-color, 

 finely speckled with various shades of brown ; in some specimens the 

 markings are more numerous about the greater end. Size, i.i6x.86. 



485. Perisoreus obscurus (Ridgw.) [298.] 



Oregon Jay. 



Hab. Northwest coast, from Northern California to British Columbia. 



Mr. A. W. Anthony mentions this species as a common winter res- 

 ident of Washington county, Oregon. In March they depart for the 

 mountains to breed, although a few sometimes remain to breed in the 

 more secluded parts of the country. He characterizes it as a bird utterly 

 devoid of fear. While dressing deer in the thick timber he has been 



