Part 34

This is the largest of the Larks. It has the throat white, with no trace of yellow; the horned tufts are black, and curve upwards. Found in Alaska, south to Oregon (not illustrated).

DESERT HORNED LARK. 474c. Otocoris alpestris leucolæma. 8 inches.

Found from British Columbia south, in winter to southern California, Texas and New Mexico. They are one of our handsome winter birds, with horn-like tufts of black on either side of the head; forehead, patch under the eye and band on the breast black; yellow throat, and white under parts; upper parts, a light pinkish shade of brown. Three or four eggs, white, marked with shades of brown, are placed in their nest of grasses and rootlets, on the ground, usually concealed under a tuft of grass (.92 × .65).

CALIFORNIA HORNED LARK. 474e. Otocoris alpestris actia. 8 inches.

Similar, but back deeper brown. Southern and Lower California.

RUDDY HORNED LARK. 474f. Otocoris alpestris rubea. 8 inches.

The same as above, but still more rufous. Central California.

Family CORVIDÆ—CROWS, JAYS

AMERICAN MAGPIE. 475. Pica pica hudsonia. 20 inches.

Like the “Blue Jays,” the Magpies are great talkers, and are usually found in colonies where they can carry on conversation in their own way with each other. They are a large handsome bird, with pure white under parts and wing coverts, and the upper parts, head, tail and breast are a bronzy black, with iridescent changes. Tail very long, and graduated. They are very bold birds, inquisitive, and great thieves. Their food consists of small rodents, a large variety of insect life, and the eggs and young of small birds.

Nest.—Is a bulky affair, placed at almost any elevation, composed of sticks and small twigs, with an opening on the side; the inside of the nest is lined with finer materials, grass and plant fiber. Four to eight grayish white eggs, spotted with brown and drab (1.25 × .90).

STELLER JAY. 478. Cyanocitta stelleri. 13 inches.

Range.—From Alaska south to central California. Nests are quite bulky; three to six greenish eggs, spotted with shades of brown (1.25 × .90).

WOODHOUSE JAY. 480. Aphelocoma woodhousei. 12 inches.

These birds are abundant in the Great Basin between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas, breeding in scrubby trees or bushes at low elevations and usually near some stream. They have the crown and forehead bluish, and the under parts are gray, streaked with a darker shade on the breast. Their food consists of acorns and a variety of insects.

Nest.—This is usually of small sticks, loosely arranged, with smaller twigs and roots for a lining. Four to six eggs, of a pale green, faintly spotted with shades of brown (1.20 × .90).

CALIFORNIA JAY. 481. Aphelocoma californica. 12 inches.

These are the most common of the Jays on the Pacific coast of California, Oregon and Washington. They are more tame or fearless than most of the family, and frequent the trees about houses, and are given the bad name of robbing the nests of other birds of their eggs and young. In color these are just the reverse of the previous one, being brownish below, and gray above.

ARIZONA JAY. 482. Aphelocoma sieberi arizonæ. 13 inches.

A common bird in Arizona and south into Mexico. The upper parts are a bluish gray, shading into a brownish gray on the head; under parts are a pale gray. They are a very sociable bird during the breeding season, and often several pairs will nest in the same clump of trees, usually placing their nests at low elevations.

Nest.—Is made similar to the preceding, but the four eggs are more of a bluish color, without markings (1.20 × .85).

ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY. 484a. Perisoreus canadensis capitalis. 12 inches.

This is almost the counterpart of the Canada Jay of the east, with the exception of having more white on the head, and only a small space on the back of the neck. He is the same “old coon” as the eastern bird about camps, and is rightfully called “Camp Robber.” Their nesting habits are the same as above, but their eggs are drab, spotted and blotched with brown, of varying shades (1.15 × .80).

OREGON JAY. 485. Perisoreus obscurus. 11 inches.

Like the last in every way, but with a blacker head, forehead white.

AMERICAN RAVEN. 486. Corvus corax sinuatus. 24 inches.

This is a large edition of the Crow, and is found west of the Rockies from British Columbia southward. Their plumage is a bluish black, with lengthened and stiffened feathers on the neck. Their general habits are much the same as the Crow. Their food consists principally of carrion, fish, and eggs and young of smaller birds. They nest on the high cliffs in almost inaccessible places, building large nests of sticks, in which they deposit four eggs of a pale greenish white, spotted and blotched with shades of brown and drab (1.95 × 1.25).

WHITE-NECKED RAVEN. 487. Corvus cryptoleucus. 21 inches.