284. Birds of Colorado 
of the nests of other birds, and will even carry off eggs 
from the poultry yard, piercing them through the shell 
with its beak. It is also said to pick the eyes of young 
lambs and the sores on the backs of horses and cattle, 
but this does not seem to be a very general habit. It has 
a loud, harsh voice, but is silent in the breeding season. If 
taken young from the nest it is easily domesticated, and 
soon learns to talk like its European cousin (Plate 11.) 
Its favourite resort is in the oak and willow brushwood 
along the banks and the valley slopes of streams. Here 
its bulky nests are a very conspicuous feature ; these 
are built towards the end of March, and are used and 
added to several years in succession. The nest proper 
is built up of small twigs, with a lining of clay and an inner 
lining of hair and fine rootlets; this is placed on a 
foundation of larger sticks, which are built up all round 
and above, to form a complete domed nest with an 
inconspicuous entrance on one side, the whole structure 
being often two to three feet in diameter. It is 
usually placed in a thick bush from ten to twenty 
feet from the ground, though sometimes I have seen 
one as high as sixty feet in a cotton-wood tree. 
The eggs, seven or eight in number, are laid between 
April 15th and 30th in the foothills, and about a fort- 
night later in the mountains, and the young are hatched 
in about eighteen days; normally only one brood is 
reared. The eggs vary in shape and markings, but 
are usually grey, heavily blotched with pale brown, 
and measure 1°28 x 0°90. Rockwell found eggs as 
early as March 31st in Mesa co., at about 6,500 feet. 
Genus CYANOCITTA. 
Bill moderate, the basal half covered by nasal plumes which conceal 
the nostrils ; crown very distinctly crested ; wings and tail approxi- 
mately of equal length ; tail slightly graduated. 
