
80 THE FAUNA OF MONTANA TERRITORY. 
dently because it feeds chiefly on the seeds of the Yellow 
Pine (P. ponderosa), which is either wanting or scarce 
among the spruces. I noticed large flocks flying in very 
loose order, with a steady, pretty rapid motion like a Jay, 
not in the least “by jerks, in the manner of a Woodpecker,” 
as described by Townsend (Nuttall, Manual, 1840, Vol. I, 
p. 252). 
BLACK-BILLED Macpre (Pica Hudsonica). No Magpies 
appeared along the Missouri River in June, until we had 
entered the “Bad Lands,” where it cuts through the first 
mountain range, and pine woods began to appear. Thence 
they continued common throughout the route westward, and 
on reaching Vancouver, October 30th, I found them for the 
first time about there. 
STELLER's Jay (Cyanura Stellerii). I saw no Jays my- 
self until-we crossed the Bitterroot River, when they became 
common in the spruce forests. Dr. Suckley, however, 
found this species at St. Mary’s Valley, in October 1853. 
CANADA Jay (Perisoreus Canadensis). This bird appeared 
near the crossing of the Bitterroot, and was also common in 
the spruce forests of the Cour d'Alene Mountains, these 
being its favorite summer residence as they are near the 
coast. ; 
Bawp-rarLED PiGkoN (Columba fasciata). I saw but one 
bird, which I think belonged to this species, near Cœur 
d'Aleüe Mission, at the base of the most western range of 
mountains. It seems to leave the Rocky Mountains almost 
entirely to the next species, though a few have been obtained 
farther south, along their eastern base, by Say and Peale. 
(Nuttall, Manual, Vol. I, p. 753.*) 
PassENGER PiGron ( Ectopistes migratoria). The Passen- 
ger Pigeon, like the Cat-bird, astonished me by its frequency 
in the Rocky Mountains, as, although I saw no very large 
flocks, I saw some almost every day until I passed the Spo- 
Sus Falls, just north of the Columbia Plains, where Lieut. 
T aser a fact at Kho A. P +} gt, 


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