324 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



ground. The eggs are light bluish-green, spotted and sprinkled with clove-brown; 

 the markings are heavier near. the larger ends, where they form indistinct circles. 

 They offer the following dimensions: 1.25x.93, 1.22x.94, 1.19x.91, 1.23x.92. 



478a. BLTTE-FBOHTED JAY. CyanocUta stelleri frontalis (Ridgw.) Geog. 

 Dlst. — Southern ranges of Sierra Nevada of California and Western Nevada, from 

 Fort Crook south to Lower California. 



A common bird in the mountains of California, inhabiting the whole length of 

 the Sierra Nevada and also, it is said, the coast ranges. Colonel N. S. Goss found 

 quite a number of nests of the Blue-fronted Jay in the vicinity of Julian, California, 

 in the spring of 1883, and "in all cases but one, in holes and trough-like cavities in 

 trees and stubs, ranging from four to fifty feet from the ground, generally ten to 

 twenty feet. The nest found outside was built upon, a large horizontal limb of an 

 oak close beside a gnarl, the sprout-like limbs of which thickly covered the nest 

 overhead, and almost hid it from view below." They were quite bulky, loosely 

 made of sticks, stems of weeds, and lined with fibrous rootlets and grasses; and as 

 they were all built at or near the opening, the tell-tale sticks projected, and made 

 the finding of the nest not difBcult. A strange departure from the usual habits 

 of Jays is noted of the Blue-fronted Jay by Mr. Bryant. In Placer county, California, 

 the birds had persisted in building within the snow-sheds in spite of the noise and 

 smoke of passing trains. "The destruction of their nests by the men employed on 

 the water train which makes two trips a week through the sheds during the summer, 

 sprinkling the woodwork and tearing down nests of Jays and Robins with a hook 

 attached to a pole, seemed not to discourage them. So accustomed do the Jays be- 

 come to the passing of trains, that they will often remain on their nests undisturbed. 

 In. oib!e season more than two hundred nests of Jays and Robins were destroyed, so 

 the train men say, between Cisco and Summit, a distance of thirteen miles. Some 

 ol the nests were but partially built, others contained eggs, these latter ones 

 having probably been overlooked on previous trips. The nesting of the Jays within 

 the snow-sheds is, so Mr. Ingersoll supposes, to avoid the persecution of squirrels. 

 None, he thinks, however, succeed in rearing a brood, for of more than thirty nests 

 which he found, nearly all were uncompleted." ("Unusual Nesting Sites," No. II.) 

 Colonel Goss gives the color of the eggs as light blue, speckled and spotted with dark 

 brown, rather thickest at large end, and the measurements of two sets as follows: 

 one taken May 19, 1.20x.87, 1.20x.88, 1.21X.88; May 21, 1.21x.88, 1.15x.86, 1.19x.86, 

 1.16X.85. Mr. W. O. Emerson informs me that the nests ini the vicinity of Haywards, 

 California, are placed in oaks, redwood and other tall trees A nest containing a 

 set of three eggs, collected by -Mr. A. M. Ingersoll, May 19, 1888, at Julian, Cali- 

 fornia, was inside of an immense oak stub, about fifteen feet from the ground, and 

 the eggs were far advanced in incubation. They are of a light grayish-blue, speckled 

 and spotted with burnt umber. Their sizes are: 1.26x.86, 1.30x.85, 1.21x.85. 



4786. LONG-CRESTED JAY. CyanocUta stelleri macrolopha (Baird.) Geog. 

 Dlst. — Southern Rocky Mountains, Southern Arizona and Northwestern Mexico. 



A common bird in the southern Rocky Mountain region. In some portions of 

 the pine districts of Arizona the birds are permanent residents. They are mated by 

 the latter part of April, and nests with eggs may be found in May. It is a very 

 numerous species in Northern New Mexico and Colorado, where it is a constant 

 resident. Large, noisy troops of this species are to be found roving about during the 

 winter months. Their notes at times are said to resemble those of the Blue Jay. 

 Mr. Dille states that in Colorado the nest of the Long-crested Jay is built in trees or 



