MAGPIES, JAYS, CROWS: LONG-CRESTED JAY 475 
Nest. —In trees and bushes, usually less than ten feet from the ground, bulky but 
well concealed, made largely of twigs, moss, and dry grass, and sometimes cemented 
with mud and lined with rootlets, pine needles, or grass. 1 Eggs: 3 to 6, dull, pale 
bluish green, spotted and blotched over the entire surface with browns and lavender. 
Map 33. Long-chested Jay 
Shaded areas show breeding and summer range in Transition and Canadian 
Zones 
Food. —The food of the crested Jays is of little economic importance. About 
one-third is animal and two-thirds vegetable, the chief food being acorns. The 
destruction of birds’ eggs is their worst dietary fault. 
General Habits. —In going up the mountains of New Mexico, on 
rea ching the yellow pines the loud energetic ivhack-ack-cwkj whack-ack - 
i A nest found by Mr. Iiidgway, June 25, 1869, in the Wasatch Mountains, saddled on a horizontal 
branch, was made of strong coarse sticks rudely put together, upon which was “a solid, nrrn Jj a ~ 
ing of mud of a uniform concave shape, lined with fme, wiry rootlets (Baird, Brewer, and Hiagway, 
History of North American Birds, Lana Birds, vol. 2, pp. 281-282). 
