The Clark Nutcracker 



contact with pitch); the white of face soiled or brown-stained. Young birds are like 

 adults in worn plumage. Length 279.4-330.2 (11. 00-13. 00); wing 192 (7.00-8.00); tail 

 115 (4.50); bill 40.7 (1.60); tarsus 36.8 (1.45). Female smaller than male. 



Recognition Marks. — Kingfisher size; gray plumage with abruptly contrasting 

 black-and-white of wings and tail; harsh "char-r" note. 



Nesting. — Nest: a thick-walled cup composed chiefly of fine barkstrips, externally 

 of interlaced sticks; lining of finest shredded bark; placed at moderate heights in 

 pinyon, juniper, or pine. Eggs: 2 or 3, or, rarely, 4. "Ground color light lichen-green. 

 Light mottlings or streakings of pale drab-gray and minute spottings of Saccardo's 

 olive distributed over the entire surface, with a slight confluence at the larger end 

 whence a faintly defined banded effect is noticeable" (Bradbury). Av. of 15 eggs: 

 33.3 x 23.1 (1. 31 x .91); index 70. Season: March at the lower breeding levels; prob- 

 ably later with increase of elevation; one brood. 



General Range. — Western North America in coniferous timber, from Arizona 

 and New Mexico to Alaska; casual east of the Rockies. 



Range in California. — Common resident in the higher timbered mountain 

 ranges practically throughout the State, occurring from high Transition up to the 

 summits. Also of sporadic occurrence at the lower levels in fall and winter — Point 

 Reyes, Nov. 19, 1900, (J. Mailliard) ; Point Pinos (W. K. Fisher); Carmel (J. L. Schles- 

 inger) ; Santa Barbara (various occurrences, specimen taken Oct. 15, 1919); Colorado 

 Desert near Indio (C. O. Esterly) ; at sea near Los Angeles (G. F. Ferris). 



Authorities. — Newberry (Picicorvus columbianus) , Rept. Pac. R. R. Surv., 

 vol. vi., pt. iv., 1857, p. 83; Feilner, Ann. Rept. Smithsonian Inst, for 1864 (1865), p. 

 427 (range; habits); Henshaw, Rept. Orn. Wheeler Surv., 1876, p. 252 (habits); Merriam, 

 C. H., North Amer. Fauna, no. 16, 1899, pp. 1 19-12 1, 2 figs, (habits; food); Mailliard, 

 J., Condor, vol. xxii., 1920, pp. 160-161 (at Carmel; habits). 



NO BIRD-LOVER can forget his first encounter with this singular 

 Old-Bird-of-the-Mountains. Ten to one the bird brought the man up 

 standing by a stentorian char'r'r, char'r'r, char'r'r, which led him to search 

 wildly in his memory whether Rocs are credited with voices. If the bird was 

 particularly concerned at the man's intrusion, he presently revealed 

 himself sitting rather stolidly on a high pine branch, repeating that harsh 

 and deafening cry. The grating voice is decidedly unpleasant at close 

 quarters, and it is quite out of keeping with the unquestioned sobriety 

 of its grizzled owner. A company of Nutcrackers in the distance finds 

 frequent occasion for outcry, and the din is only bearable as it is softened 

 and modified by the re-echoing walls of some pine-clad gulch, or else 

 dissipated by the winds which sweep over the listening glaciers. 



But the Nutcracker's repertory is not exhausted by a single cry. 

 For years I was puzzled by sporadic eruptions of a strange, feline cry, 

 meack, or mearrk, a piercing and rather frightful sound. The Clark 

 Nutcracker proved at last to be responsible, and he was only at play! 

 The very next morning after the mountain lion scare, we had the versatile 



