BLUE OR METALLIC BLUE 495 



In the summer grasshoppers, insects caught on the 

 wing, and fruit form their bill of fare. They seem to 

 lack the cannibalistic tendencies of their family, and do 

 not, so far as I have observed or can learn, meddle with 

 the broods of other birds. 



The call-notes of the Piflon Jay are as varied as those 

 of the Eastern jay and very like them in character. A 

 harsh "j-a-a-h," a guttural chuck, and some soft, low 

 notes uttered at the nest to mate or young are the 

 sounds most characteristic. 



Late in March or early in April they commence to 

 build their bulky nests in full view, on the horizontal 

 limbs of a nut pine or a juniper tree, usually within ten 

 feet of the ground. The framework consists of twigs of 

 juniper, nut pine, or sagebrush, and is lined with fine 

 rootlets, bark shredded very fine, and moss or grass. 

 Both sexes share in the incubation, which lasts sixteen 

 days. In devotion to mate and young they rival the 

 nutcrackers, and feed the nestlings long after they are 

 able to provide for themselves. Like young nutcrackers, 

 they are born naked, but are greener in hue. They re- 

 main about the same length of time (twenty-two days) 

 in the nest, and learn to extract the sweet kernels of the 

 pinon nuts before they leave it. They are also fed quite 

 as fully on grasshoppers from which legs and wings have 

 been carefully removed. As soon as able to fly they unite 

 with other families in large flocks, and forage from place 

 to place with the roving habits of their species. 



