White-headed Jay 289 
its bad reputation as a robber of other birds’ nests 
is undeserved, as it appears to live in perfect amity 
with them. 
This Jay builds its nest in low scrub or pifion trees 
not far from water ; no mud or clay is used in its con- 
struction. The nest proper is placed on a platform of 
crooked, dead twigs, thickly interlaced ; on this is a cup 
of interwoven stalks and roots lined with finer material 
of the same kind, and sometimes with horsehair as well. 
The whole structure is very carefully concealed and 
difficult to locate. The eggs, three to five in number, 
are laid about the first week in May in El Pasoco. They 
are a dirty pea-green colour, sparingly spotted with 
reddish-brown, and measure 1:09 x ‘79. Aiken (72) 
was the first to describe the nesting habits, and his 
remarks have recently been amply corroborated by 
Rockwell (07). 
Genus PERISOREUS. 
Bill short and conical, about half the length of the head; nostrils 
concealed by the short, stiff nasal bristles; no crest; wings rather 
long and pointed, about the same length as the tail, which is strongly 
graduated, the outer tail-feathers about ? the length of the middle 
one; plumage lax, the prevailing colour grey. 
A boreal genus, found in the northern pine forests of the Old and 
New Worlds, and south in the Rocky Mountains to the Mexican border. 
Three species are generally recognized ; a subspecific form of one of 
these is found in Colorado. 
White-headed Jay. Perisoreus canadensis capitalis. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 484a—Colorado Records—Baird 58, p. 590; 
Allen 72, p. 163; Henshaw 75, p. 339; Brewer 79, p. 239; Scott 79, 
p- 94; Drew 81, p. 149; Stone 82, p. 181; Drew 85, p. 16; Morrison 
88, p. 107; 89 p. 147; Kellogg 90, p. 88; Bendire 92, p. 388; Lowe 
94, p. 268; Cooke 97, pp. 90, 210; Henderson 03, p. 235; 09, p. 233 ; 
Gilman 07, p. 155; Warren 08, p. 22; 09, p. 15; Rockwell 08, p. 168. 
Description.—Adult—Crown pure white, separated from a somewhat 
vaguely defined, dirty-white collar by a dark slaty nuchal patch; rest 
of the upper-surface slate-grey, the wing and tail-feathers white tipped ; 
U 
