Bendire.] 126 [March 21, 



pick at it till the dog returned and drove them away. I have seen 

 the same birds pursue these tactics repeatedly, and at every fresh 

 attack a different bird took his position in the rear. I was able to make 

 sure of this, as the tails of these birds are seldom, if ever, alike. 

 They made these attacks systematically, and acted in perfect accord 

 with each other, as if by a previous understanding. They are very 

 interesting, but very troublesome pets. The company I belonged to 

 in 1870, had a tame one, that would take part in their drills, and on 

 Sunday morning inspections took his place regularly on the right of 

 the 1st Sergt., following him to the front when the ranks were 

 opened. This bird almost talked, and the men were very fond of it. 

 A cat finally killed it. They sometimes mimic other animals. I 

 observed one here in the winter of 1876, that would crow exactly 

 like a rooster and imitate the cackling of a hen perfectly. 



76. Cyanura stelleri (Swain son). Steller's Jay. 



A rare resident in the pine forests in the vicinity of Camp Harney. 

 Two eggs of this species in my collection measure 1.20 X .90 and 

 1.20 X «86 of an inch. Their ground color is dark olive green, and 

 they are marked principally about the larger end with blotches and 

 spots of a pale rusty brown and lavender. Near the end the spots 

 are confluent and hide the ground color. Their shape is an oblong 

 ' oval, slightly more pointed at one end than on the other. An egg of 

 the variety frontalis from California, measures 1.19 X «90 of an inch. 

 In shape this egg resembles the former, but the ground color is bright 

 green, spotted with brownish gray of two shades, the markings much 

 finer and more evenly distributed over the entire egg, nowhere hid- 

 ing the ground color, although the markings are deeper about the 

 larger end. 



77. Perisoreus canadensis ? Canada Jay. 



This bird is a rather rare resident in this portion of these moun- 

 tains, and is referable more to the var. capitalis than obscurus. In 

 this section it is called " meat bird." I shot a pair on the southern 

 base of Canyon City mountain, Nov. 1, 1875. 1 noticed five or six 

 at the same time ; they were gentle and unsuspicious, coming within 

 a few feet of my camp fires, picking up bits of meat and bread which 

 I threw to them. They are not noisy, in fact all the notes I have 

 heard them utter on two or three occasions were rather pleasing and 

 musical than otherwise. So far I have seen this bird in but two 

 localities on the mountains, at different seasons of the year and they 

 are, I believe, constant residents. 



