Sept., 1917 NESTING HABITS OF CLARKE NUTCRACKER IN COLORADO 151 



•''March 28th. Made trip afoot 25 miles to nearest station to express 

 eggs, nest and skin to you, having no appliances for preparing and preserving 



eggs so far advanced in incubation. 



"April 5th. Returned to camp. 



"April 7th. Nest no. 5 found in pinyon about eight feet up, the young 

 having recently vacated the same. Weather stormy; heavy snow fell during 

 the night. Made trip to nest no. 2, located in bottom of canyon in Douglas fir, 

 to take notes of birds during stormy weather. Found old bird covering young. 

 It was cold and windy, and the ground was covered with eight inches of snow. 

 Nothing of interest occurred. The other bird did not put in an appearance ; 

 probably feeding in the lower country. Returned in the afternoon and found 

 both birds away and a rim of snow around the outer edge of the nest. One 

 old bird soon returned and three necks straightened up to receive the food. 

 The parent's throat was bulging out with pinyon nuts. These nuts were all 

 full and round, so had evidently been placed where the "meat" had not dried 

 up. Apparently, therefore, fresh pinyon nuts are always available during 

 their nesting period. They were the chief items of sustenance that the gullets 

 and stomachs contained, with an occasional small beetle or particle of the same. 

 Both birds came in with food while I was at the nest site, and the feeding was 

 done by regurgitation. The gullets of the old birds were very much enlarged, 

 and plainly showed they contained a quantity of the pinyon seeds. The bill 

 was thrust into the youngster's mouth, and whole shelled nuts were given it. 

 No shells or particles of same were found either in the gullets of old birds or 

 stomachs of young birds. 



"Apparently the food brought in by one bird was sufficient to feed the 

 entire family. I saw two of the three young ones receive food from one bird, 

 but the other parent bird came in before the third young bird was fed by the 

 first bird, and this mixed things up so that afterward I could not tell which 

 was which. After feeding a young one, the parent bird would preen herself 

 and jabber in a nervous manner, as though aware that an unwelcome visitor 

 was at hand. 



"The stomachs of the old birds examined always contained masses of 

 pinyon shells, this far exceeding in bulk the mixture of insects and meat of 

 pinyon nuts, about 75 per cent nut food and 25 per cent insects and other 

 matter. 



"April 8th. Found nest no. 6 in a pinyon tree about twelve feet up. Con- 

 tained one young about a week old. Old bird sat very close, with beak up 

 and open as usual. I almost touched her with my hand. Upon examination of 

 nest no. 4, which had contained two young, I found the same to be vacated. 



"April 10th. Found nest no. 1 vacated when I visited it to photograph 

 contents. The young of nest no. 2, though I considered them about two days 

 older than those of nest no. 1, were still in the nest, and I took several photos 

 of them. Also collected the male bird and young for a Museum group. (See 

 fig. 51.) The male was the dominant defender of the brood, though I thought 

 it was the female until I prepared the skin. Examination proved it to be the 

 male, with testes much smaller than in the mating season. ' ' 



Being dissatisfied with results of the foregoing expedition, and getting 

 none from my other parties, I arranged with Mr. Sheldon to make an earlier 

 trip to the same camp and location this year (1917), in hopes of fuller notes 

 on the building and nesting habits of the Nutcrackers, as well as better exhibits 

 for my collection. Little further knowledge was obtained, and I will briefly 



