320 NilSrS AND ECiaS Of 



Known as the Black-billed Magpie. A bird of a bad reputation— a rascal, thief, 

 and a rogue in general, but like the Devil, is nbt perhaps "as black as he is painted." 

 The camp tales of many a western traveler are interspersed with incidents illustrat- 

 ing the tricks and thieving propensities of the Magpie. i^S pets, their familiarity 

 becomes a decided nuisance. A common species on the plains, mountains and hills 

 of Colorado, where it breeds in abundance. The height of the nest from the ground, 

 Mr. Dille says, ranges from six to sixty feet; they are often built in the branches of a 

 slender sapling, or In a scrubby willow. In the mountains the large black pine 

 tree is this bird's favorite nesting site, and often as many as four nests are built in 

 a single tree. The i.ests are large and bulky — a rustic lattice-work of sticks, meas- 

 uring from two to three feet high, though not more than twelve to eighteen inches 

 in the greatest diameter.* The nest has an arched roof, with aln opening on the side. 

 Sometimes these dome-shaped roofs and doorways are not very artistically or elab- 

 orately made, and the observer is often compelled to put on the finishing touches 

 afith his imagination. The sticks are cemented together with mud, ani. the lining 

 of the nests consist usually of a few grasses or roots. The long tails, of the Magpies 

 may be observed protruding from one of the entrances of tue nest while incubating. 

 The number of eggs varies from five to nine, commonly seven, and they are deposited 

 in Colorado as early as the latter part of April, usually, however, in May. Dr. Merrill took 

 a set of eggs at Modoc Point, Oregon, on April 8. The eggs are grayish-white, with 

 a yellowish, occasionally with a greenish tinge, spotted, dashed and dotted with 

 markings of r rplish or violet-brown; most thickly around the larger end. Ten eggs 

 measure: 1.32x.89, 1.37x.90, 1.38x.92, 1.40x.94, 1.34x.90, 1.36X.89, 1.42x.92, 1.34x.8^ 

 1.42X.87, 1.40X.93. The average size is 1.34X.89 inches. 



476. YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE. Pica nuttalli Aud. Geog. Dist.— Cali- 

 fornia, west of the Sierra Nevada, from Sacramento Valley south to about latitude 

 34°; locally distributed. 



The Yellow-billed Magpie is confined exclusively to California, where it breeds 

 abundantly; and it begins nesting about the first of April Its general habits are like 

 those of P. hudsonica, and the nest is similarly constructed. The eggs range from 

 five to nine in number, usually six or seven. They are of a light drab, so thickly 

 marked with fine cloudings of an obscure lavender color as nearly to conceal the 

 ground, and to give the egg the appearance of an almost violet-brown. A set of six 

 eggs, collected. in Wheeler Canon, near Santa Paula, California, exhibit the following 

 dimensions: 1.31X.89, 1.28x.89, 1.31x.89, 1.32x.89, 1.30x.88, 1.28x.90. A set of six eggs 

 in my cabinet, taken from a nest situated twenty feet fronj the ground in an oak 

 tree, near Santa Barbara, California, April 10, 1887, offers the following sizes: '1.30 

 X.85, 1.29X.84, 1.29x.90, 1.30X.82, 1.28x.81, l,25x.86. 



+ O 477. BLUE JAY. Cyanocitta cristata (Linn.) Geog. Dist. — Eastern North 

 America except Florida, west to the Plains, north to the Fur Countries. 



The well-known Blue Jay is abundant in Eastern North America, where it breeds 

 In the latter part of April, in May and June, according to locality. He is a con- 

 spicuous member of a family of questionable character and, as in the case of the 

 Magpie, unjust prejudices have doubtless done much to brand him a profligate. His 

 fine personal dress, and noisy, boisterous habits, only serve to make him the more 

 prominent as a rowdy full of cunning traits. Yet no observer will dispute that the 

 sagacity often evinced by this bird — his forethought, intelligence and sensibility, are 

 strongly akin to reason; and according to the treatment received from a man he is 

 Justly either shy or wary, confiding or familiar. The nest of the Blue Jay Is built In 



