204 



OEDEES OF BIRDS— PERCHERS AND SINGERS 



on wings and tail, and with blue as its prevail- 

 ing color. 



The Piiion Jay^ (pronounced pin'yone) is a 

 bird well worth knowing. On the Sierra Nevada 

 mountains and adjacent plateaus, where the 

 piflon pine, juniper and cedar b^a^'cly struggle 

 against the scarcity of water, and only half 

 clothe the rugged nakedness of Nature, this Jay 

 is a welcome habitant. I think it safe to say 

 that you will find it wherever you find the pinon 



pine, whose big, husky cones furnish a generous 

 quantity of seeds, called "nuts," which are good 

 for man, and grand food for all the wild creatures 

 that can crack their delicate shell. 



1 have never seen the Pinon .Jay so numerous 

 that it could be called a " common " bird through- 

 out an extensive region. At the same time, it 

 is a bird of social habit, and given to flocking, 

 cjuite like our eastern crow. It is really a con- 

 necting link between the crows and jays. It 

 has a short, sciuare tail, no crest or "top-knot;" 

 its predominating color is grayish-blue, and its 

 cry is a crow-like "caw." 



Clarke's Nut-Cracker- is a bird of the western 

 mountain-tops and canyons, and a companion 

 of the mountain-sheep. Wild creatures that 

 love to dwell on high mountains, amid grand 

 scenery, appeal to my affections more strongly 

 than some others. To me, this bird recalls 



> Cy-an-o-ceph'a-lus cij-aii-o-cci>h'a-hifi. Length, 

 11 inches. 



2 Nu-ci-fra'ga co-lii'm-bi-an'a. Length, 12 inches. 



pictures of mountain-parks, "rim-rock," "shde- 

 rock," pines and cedars bravely climbing up 

 steep acclivities, gloomy canyons, and rushing 

 streams of icy-cold water below all. 



I first made acquaintance with this bird while 

 hunting elk and mountain-sheep, on a fearfully 

 steep mountain-side, with a magnificent pano- 

 rama spread out below. It greeted me in friendly 

 fashion with the rasping "Kurr, Kurr!" which, 

 when heard amid such surroundings, is not soon 

 forgotten. It has been my misfortune, how- 

 ever, never to see the remarkable habit thus 

 graphically described by Mrs. Florence Merriam 

 Bailey in her delightful "Handbook" : 



"Living mainly on the crests of the ranges, 

 the birds fly to the high peaks to get the first 

 rays of the sun, and when warmed go for food 

 and water to the lower slopes. Their method 

 of getting down is startling at first sight. Launch- 

 ing out from a peak, with bill pointed downward 

 and wings closed, they drop like a bullet for a 

 thousand feet, to the brook where they wish to 

 drink. Sometimes they make the descent at one 

 long swoop, at other times in a series of pitches, 

 each time checking their fall by opening their 

 wings, and letting themselves curve upward 

 before the next straight drop. They fall with 

 such a high rate of speed that when they open 

 their wings there is an explosive burst which 

 echoes from the canyon walls." 



The head, neck and body of this bird are uni- 

 form ashy gray, and the wings and tail are black, 

 with a white patch half-way down the former. 

 The Nut-Cracker is really a small crow, twelve 

 inches long, and much resembles the common 

 gray and black crow of Europe. It is found in 

 all the mountains of the West, from Alaska to 

 Mexico, and straggles eastward to the eastern 

 edge of the Great Plains. It is often called 

 Clarke's Crow. 



The Canada Jay, Whiskey-Jack, or Moose- 

 Bird,'' is by reason of its personal oddities and 

 assertiveness perhaps the most conspicuous and 

 widely known of all the perching-birds of the 

 great coniferous forests of Canada. EA'ery man 

 who has trailed moose or caribou, or for any rea- 

 son has camped in the Laurentian wilderness, 

 knows well this audacious camp-follower, and 

 remembers him with interest, if not even friend- 

 ship. Pie has no real song, and his cries are 



^ Per-i-so' re-US canadensis. Length, 12 inches. 



