284 
CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. 
resumes its trim form before he starts, his tail flips up, and a cone 
loosened by his foot goes to the ground with a rattling thump. And 
so he keeps it up, till you know when you are in his neighborhood 
by the sound of cones hitting the ground. In Idaho, Dr. Merrill 
found the abundance of the nutcrackers was coincident with that of 
the crossbills, the presence of both birds being dependent on the food 
supply. 
On San Francisco Mountain, Dr. Mearns found the birds breeding 
while the mountains were still covered with snow. 
GENUS CYANOCEPHALUS. 
492. Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus (Wied.). Pinon Jay. 
Head not crested; bill cylindrical; nostrils exposed ; tail nearly square, 
much shorter than wings; feet stout, claws large, strong, and much 
curved. Adults : almost uniform grayish blue, brightest on head ; throat 
with white streaks. Young: dull grayish blue, lighter beneath. Length: 
10.00-11.75, wing 5.70-6.00, tail 4.80-4.85. 
Distribution. — Breeds in pinon belt in Upper Sonoran and Transition 
zones in the plateau regions of western North America from southern 
British Columbia south to Lower California and northern Mexico, and 
from the region of the Black Hills west to the Pacific ; casually to Kansas 
and Nebraska. Migrates from the northern part of its range. 
Nest. — Deep, bulky, compact, made of twigs or sagebrush, lined with 
plant and tree fibers, rootlets, and grass; placed usually in pinons or juni¬ 
pers 5 to 12 feet from the ground. Eggs : 3 to 5, bluish white, sometimes 
covered with minute specks, at others wreathed around the larger end 
with coarse spots. 
Food. — Juniper berries, pinon nuts, grain, and insects, especially grass¬ 
hoppers. 
The pinon jays are so inseparably associated with the pinon 
pines that you can no more think of them without mental visions of 
sage-covered foothills spotted with junipers and pinons, than you 
can think of these dwarf forests of the desert ranges of the Great 
Basin country without calling up images of straggling flocks of 
short-tailed birds flapping along with crow-like flight and a weird, 
crow-like ca-w' ca-w'. 
The nut pine furnishes a great part of their food, and only in the 
juniper and yellow pine country of eastern Oregon are they found 
straying far beyond its range. 
They are eminently social birds, sometimes even breeding in colo¬ 
nies, and after the breeding season gatheringin flocks of several hun¬ 
dreds. A flock often seems to have no end, reaching for miles as 
the birds scatter out and straggle noisily along through the trees. 
At other times they fly in close bodies, rising and wheeling like 
blackbirds and settling down together to pick grain in a stubble 
field. Vernon Bailey. 
