This is a very abundant species both about habitations and in low
woodlands. They are very bold and familiar, stealing everything they may
take a fancy to, and frequently robbing smaller birds of their eggs and
young. They are said to be more tame and familiar than the eastern Blue
Jay, thereby bringing their bad habits much more frequently to the
attention of the masses. They nest most often in bushes or low trees,
but not as a rule, far above the ground. Their eggs are a bright bluish
green color, speckled and spotted with brownish and lavender. Size
1.10 × .80.
481a. XANTUS'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica hypoleuca._
Range.--Lower California.
The habits and nests and eggs of this lighter colored variety do not
differ from those of the California Jay.
481b. BELDING'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica obscura._
Range.--San Pedro Martir Mts. Lower California.
A darker variety of the California Jay, whose nesting habits will not
differ in any essential particular.
481.1. SANTA CRUZ JAY. _Aphelocoma insularis._
Range.--Santa Cruz Island, California.
This species is the largest and darkest colored bird of the genus
_Aphelocoma_. It is said to be a very abundant species on the island
from which it takes its name, and to have the habits and traits common
to all the members of the Jay family. The nesting habits are the same as
those of the others, but the eggs are slightly larger, averaging 1.15 ×
.85. Set of three in the collection of John Lewis Childs, taken by R. H.
Beck on May 10, 1897.
482. ARIZONA JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi arizonæ._
Range.--Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south into Mexico.
[Illustration 309: Bright bluish green.]
[Illustration: 482--484a--485.]
[Illustration: Greenish blue.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]
Page 308
482a. COUCH'S JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi couchi._
Range.--Eastern Mexico, north to western Texas.
483. GREEN JAY. _Xanthoura luxuosa glaucescens._
Range.--Northeastern Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
This handsome species has a bright blue crown and patches under the
eyes, the rest of the upper parts being greenish; throat and sides of
head black, underparts greenish white. This gaudy and noisy bird has all
the habits common to other Jays including that of robbing birds' nests.
They build generally in tangled thickets or low bushes, placing their
nests at a low elevation and making them of twigs, weeds, moss, etc.,
lined with fine rootlets. Their four or five eggs, which are laid during
April or May, are grayish buff in color, spotted with various shades of
brown and lavender gray. Size 1.20 × .85.
484. CANADA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis canadensis._
Range.--Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the
United States; west to the Rockies.
This is the bird that is well known to hunters of "big game" by various
names such as "Whiskey Jack", "Moose Bird", "Camp Robber", etc. During
the winter months, owing to the scarcity of food, their thieving
propensities are greatly enhanced and they remove everything from the
camps, which looks as though it might be edible. Birds of this genus are
smoky gray on the back and lighter below, shading to white on the
throat; the forehead and part of the crown is white and the nape
blackish. Their nests are placed at low elevations in bushes or fir
trees, and are usually very different from any of the preceding Jays'
nests. They are nearly as high as wide, and are made of small twigs,
moss, catkins, weeds and feathers making a soft spongy mass which is
placed in an upright crotch. The eggs are a yellowish gray color spotted
and blotched with brown and grayish. Size 1.15 × .80. Data.--Innisfail,
Alberta, March 12, 1903. Nest a beautiful structure of twigs, moss and
feathers in a willow bush, 6 feet from the ground. The thermometer
registered 32 below zero the day the eggs were taken. Collector, W.
Blackwood.
[Illustration 310: Green Jay.]
[Illustration: Grayish buff.]
[Illustration: Grayish.]
[Illustration: Canada Jay.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]
Page 309
484a. ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis capitalis._
Range.--Rocky Mountains from Montana to Arizona.
This variety has the whole crown white and only a small amount of
blackish on the nape. Its nesting habits and eggs are precisely like
those of the last.
484b. ALASKA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis fumifrons._
Range.--Alaska.
A very similar bird to the Canada Jay but with the forehead yellowish or
duller; the nests and eggs are like those of the others of the genus.
484c. LABRADOR JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus._
Range.--Labrador.
This is a darker variety of the Canada Jay. Its eggs cannot be
distinguished from those of any of the others of the genus.
485. Oregon Jay. _Perisoreus obscurus obscurus._
Range.--Mountain ranges from northern California to British Columbia.
These birds are very similar to _canadensis_ but have the whole
underparts white. Like the Canada Jays they appear to be wholly fearless
and pay little or no attention to the presence of mankind. Their nesting
habits and eggs are the same as the preceding except that they have
generally been found nesting near the tops of tall fir trees. Size of
eggs, 1.05 × .80.
[Illustration 311: NEST AND EGGS OF CANADA JAY SHOWING CONSTRUCTION.]
[Illustration right hand margin.]
Page 310
[Illustration 312: YOUNG CROWS]
Page 311
485a. GRAY JAY. _Perisoreus obscurus griseus._
Range.--British Columbia to northern California, east of the coast
ranges.
This bird is said to be larger and grayer than the preceding.
486. RAVEN. _Corvus corax sinuatus._
Range.--North America west of the Rockies and from British Columbia
southward.
The Raven is like a very large Crow, length 24 inches, but has the
feathers on the neck lengthened and stiffened. Their habits are similar
to those of the Crow, but more dignified, and they remain mated for
life. Besides grasshoppers and worms, they feed largely upon animal
matter such as lizards, shell fish, frogs, eggs and young of birds, and
carrion. They nest on ledges of high inaccessible cliffs or the tops of
tall trees, making large nests of sticks lined with smaller ones and
hair or wool; the eggs are laid in April or May, number from four to
seven, and are light greenish in color, blotched with umber and drab.
Size 1.95 × 1.25.
486a. NORTHERN RAVEN. _Corvus corax principalis._
Range.--Eastern North America chiefly north of the United States and
northwest to Alaska; south on some of the higher ranges to Georgia.
This variety is like the last but is larger. They are not nearly as
abundant as the western form and are very rare within the United States.
A few pairs still breed on some of the rocky islands off the coast of
Maine; more off New Brunswick and Newfoundland, and they are quite
common on the cliffs of Labrador and Alaska. Their nesting habits and
eggs are like those of the last.
487. WHITE-NECKED RAVEN. _Corvus cryptoleucus._
Range.--Mexico and the border of the United States; north to eastern
Kansas.
This small Raven is of about the size of the Crow, and has the bases of
the neck feathers white. They are very abundant in some localities,
especially in southern Arizona. Their food consists chiefly of animal
matter, the same as the large Ravens, and they are not nearly as shy,
frequently feeding in camps upon refuse which is thrown out to them.
They build at low elevations in any tree, but preferably in mesquites,
making their nests of sticks and lining them with hair, leaves, bark,
wool or anything soft. During June they lay from four to six pale bluish
green eggs, generally sparingly spotted or scratched with dark brown and
drab. Size 1.75 × 1.20.
[Illustration 313: Pale greenish white.]
[Illustration: Pale bluish green.]
[Illustration right hand margin.]
Page 312
488. CROW. _Corvus brachyrhynchos brachyrhynchos._
Range.--Whole of North America south of the Arctic Circle; most abundant
in eastern United States; rare in many localities in the west.
These birds, against which the hand of every farmer is uplifted, are
very shy and cunning; as is well known, they nearly always post a
sentinel in some tree top to keep watch while the rest of the flock is
feeding in the field below. In the fall and winter, large numbers of
them flock, and at night all roost in one piece of woods; some of the
"crow roosts" are of vast extent and contain thousands of individuals.
Crows nest near the tops of large trees, preferably pines, either in
woods or single trees in fields. Their nests are made of sticks and
lined with rootlets, and the eggs, which are laid in April or May, range
from four to seven in number, are a bluish or greenish white, sparingly
or very densely speckled, spotted and blotched with various shades of
brown and lilac. Size 1.60 × 1.15.
488a. FLORIDA CROW. _Corvus brachyrhynchos pascuus._
Range.--Florida.
This variety has a slightly shorter tail and wings than the last.
490. FISH CROW. _Corvus ossifragus._
Range.--Northwest coast from Oregon to Alaska.
This small Crow which is but 16 inches in length, is found only on the
coast, where they feed upon shell fish and offal. They nest, as do the
Ravens, either on ledges or in tree tops. The eggs resemble those of the
common Crow, but are smaller. Size 1.55 × 1.05.
489. NORTHWESTERN CROW. _Corvus caurinus._
Range.--South Atlantic and Gulf coasts, north in summer to Connecticut.
From Virginia southward, this small Crow (length 16 inches) is more
abundant on the coast than the common Crow which is often in company
with this species. Their food consists of grain, berries, and animal
matter. Their nesting habits are like those of the common Crow and the
eggs are similar and have as great variations, but are smaller. Size
1.45 × 1.05.
[Illustration: American Crow. American Raven.]
[Illustration 314: Greenish white.]
[Illustration: Bluish white.]
[Illustration: Bluish white.]
[Illustration: Left hand margin.]
Page 313
491. CLARKE'S NUTCRACKER. _Nucifraga columbiana._
Range.--Mountains of western North America from Mexico to Alaska.
The Clarke Crow, as this bird is often known, is a common resident in
most of its range. The adults are grayish with black wings and central
tail feathers, the tips of the primaries and outer tail feathers being
white. Their tail is short and their flight slow and somewhat undulating
like that of some of the Woodpeckers. Their food consists of anything
edible from seeds and larvæ in the winter to insects, berries, eggs and
young birds at other seasons. In the spring they retire to the tops of
ranges, nearly to the limit of trees, where they build their large nests
of sticks, twigs, weeds, strips of bark, and fibres matted together so
as to form a soft round ball with a deeply cupped interior; the nest is
located at from ten to forty feet from the ground in pine trees and the
eggs are laid early before the snow begins to leave. They are three in
number, grayish in color with a greenish tinge and finely spotted over
the whole surface with dark brown and lavender. Size 1.30 × .90.
Data.--Salt Lake Co., Utah, April 25, 1900. Nest placed in pine 40 feet
up on a horizontal branch, and not visible from below. The tree was at
the upper edge of a pine forest at an altitude of about 3000 feet above
Salt Lake City. The nest was discovered by seeing the parent fly into
the tree; the next day a nest was found with three young nearly ready to
fly. Collector, W. H. Parker. This set of three eggs is in the oological
collection of Mr. C. W. Crandall.
492. PINON JAY. _Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus._
Range.--Western United States between the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas,
and from southern British Columbia to Arizona.
This Crow-like Jay has a nearly uniform bluish plumage, and is found
abundantly in the pine belts of its range. Their habits are similar to
those of the Clarke Crow and the nests are similarly built at lower
elevations in pines or junipers. During April or May they lay from three
to five eggs of a bluish white color specked and spotted with brown.
Size 1.20 × .85.
[Illustration 315: Clarke's Nutcracker.]
[Illustration: Grayish blue.]
[Illustration: Bluish white.]
[Illustration: deco.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]
Page 314
STARLINGS. Family STURNIDÆ
493. STARLING. _Sturnus vulgaris._
Range.--A European species which has casually been taken in Greenland.
It was liberated a number of years ago in Central Park, New York City,
and has now become abundant there and is spreading slowly in all
directions.
They build their nests in all sorts of locations such as are used by the
English Sparrow, wherever they can find a sufficiently large crevice or
opening; less often they build their nests in trees, making them of
straw, twigs and trash. They lay from four to six pale bluish green
eggs; size 1.15 × .85. Two broods are reared in a season.
BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Family ICTERIDÆ
494. BOBOLINK. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._
Range.--Eastern North America, breeding from New Jersey north to Nova
Scotia and Manitoba, and west to Utah and Nevada; winters in South
America.
This black and white bird is well known in the east, where his sweet,
wild music, often uttered on the wing, is much admired. He sings all day
long during May and June to his Sparrow-like mate, who is sitting on her
nest concealed in the meadow grass. They are quite sociable birds and
several pairs often nest in the same field, generally a damp meadow; the
nests are hollows in the ground, lined with grass and frequently with
the top slightly arched to conceal the eggs, which are grayish white,
clouded, spotted and blotched with brownish, gray and lilac; size .84 ×
.62. They number from four to six and are laid in June.
495. COWBIRD. _Molothrus ater ater._
Range.--North America from the Atlantic to eastern California, and from
New Brunswick and Manitoba southward; winters from the southern half of
the United States southward.
[Illustration 316: Starling.]
[Illustration: Bluish green.]
[Illustration: Bobolink.]
[Illustration: Grayish white.]
[Illustration: left hand margin.]
Page 315
These uncivilized members of the bird world build no nests for
themselves, but slyly deposit their egg in the nest of some other bird
from the size of a Robin down, probably the greater number being in
Warblers and Sparrows nests; the eggs are hatched and the young cared
for by the unfortunate birds upon which they are thrust. The eggs are
white, spotted and speckled all over, more or less strongly with brown
and yellowish brown; size .85 × .64.
495a. DWARF COWBIRD. _Molothrus ater obscurus._
Range.--Southwestern United States and Mexico, wintering south of our
borders.
This variety is like the last, but slightly smaller. The nesting habits
of the two are identical and the eggs are indistinguishable. It is
believed that Cowbirds do more damage to the smaller birds than all
other dangers combined, as their young being larger and stronger either
crowd or smother the other young or else starve them by getting most of
the food brought to the nest.
496. RED-EYED COWBIRD. _Tangavius æneus involucratus._
Range.--Mexico; north in summer to the Lower Rio Grande in Texas.
This parasite is larger than the Cowbird, being 9 inches long, and is
glossy black with brassy reflections on the upper and under parts. They
are abundant in southern Texas where they deposit their eggs in the
nests of other birds, apparently preferring those of Orioles; their eggs
are pale bluish green, unmarked; size .90 × .70.
497. YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD. _Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus._
Range.--North America west of the Mississippi to eastern California,
breeding from the southern parts of the United States north to British
Columbia and Hudson Bay and wintering from southern United States
downward.
This large handsome Blackbird with bright yellow head and breast is very
abundant in some parts of the west, where they nest in large colonies in
sloughs and marshes, being especially abundant in the Dakotas and
Manitoba. The nests are made of strips of rushes, skillfully woven
together and attached to upright cane near the surface of the water.
They lay from four to six eggs having a grayish white ground color,
finely specked and spotted with shades of brown and gray; size 1.00 ×
.70.
[Illustration 317: White.]
[Illustration: Cowbird.]
[Illustration: Light blue-green.]
[Illustration: Yellow-headed Blackbird.]
[Illustration: Grayish white.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]
Page 316
498. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD. _Agelaius phœniceus phœniceus._
Range.--North America east of the Rockies and from the southern British
Provinces southward to the Gulf; winter in southern United States.
These birds are familiar to every frequenter of the country, in their
range; too familiar to many, for the enormous flocks do considerable
damage to grain fields in the fall. They also do a great amount of good
at other seasons in the destruction of injurious insects and weed seed.
They breed from April in the southern parts of their range to May and
June in the northern, making their nests of grasses, woven and twisted
together and placing them in bushes in swamps or over water, and
sometimes on the ground in clumps of grass. Their eggs are from three to
five in number, bluish white boldly spotted, clouded or lined with
blackish brown and purplish. Size 1.00 × .70. The nests and eggs of the
numerous sub-species are all precisely the same as those of this bird,
so we will but enumerate the varieties and their range. To identify
these varieties other than by their ranges will require micrometer
calipers and the services of the men who separated them.
498a. SONORA RED-WING. _Agelaius phœniceus sonoriensis._
Range.--A slightly larger variety found in southern United States.
498b. BAHAMA RED-WING. _Agelaius phœniceus bryanti._
Range.--Bahamas and southern Florida.
This species has a slightly longer bill.
498c. FLORIDA RED-WING. _Agelaius phœniceus floridanus._
Range.--Florida and Gulf coast.
A smaller species with a longer bill.
498d. THICK-BILLED RED-WING. _Agelaius phœniceus fortis._
Range.--Breeds in the interior of British America; in winter south
through the Plains to southwestern United States.
498e. SAN DIEGO RED-WING. _Agelaius Phœniceus neutralis._
Range.--Great Basin between the Rockies and Sierra Nevadas, from British
Columbia to Mexico, wintering in the southern parts of its range.
498f. NORTHWESTERN RED-WING. _Agelaius phœniceus caurinus._
Range.--Pacific coast from California to British Columbia.
[Illustration 318: Red-winged Blackbird.]
[Illustration: Bluish white.]
[Illustration left hand margin.]
Page 317
499. Bicolored Red-wing. _Agelaius gubernator californicus._
Range.--Pacific coast, west of the Sierra Nevadas, from Washington south
to Lower California.
The males of this species are distinguished from those of the Red-wings
by the absence of light margins to the orange red shoulders. They are
fairly abundant in their restricted localities, building their nests in
swamps about ponds and streams. The nests are like those of the
Red-wings, and the eggs are similar and with the same great variations
in markings, but average a trifle smaller; size .95 × .67.
500. TRICOLORED RED-WING. _Agelaius tricolor._
Range.--Pacific coast of California and Oregon; rare east of the Sierra
Nevadas.
This species differs from the Red-wing in having the shoulders a much
darker red and the median coverts white instead of buffy. Like the last
species they have a limited range and are nowhere as common as are the
Red-wings in the east. Their nests are like those of the Red-wings and
the eggs are not distinguishable in their many variations, but they
appear to be more often lined than those of the former.
501. MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella magna magna._
Range.--North America east of the Plains and north to Nova Scotia and
Manitoba; winters from New England southward.
This handsome dweller among our fields and meadows is frequently heard
giving his high, pleasing, flute-like whistle with its variations; his
beautiful yellow breast with its black crescent is not so frequently
seen in life, for they are usually quite shy birds. They artfully
conceal their nests on the ground among the tall grass of meadows,
arching them over with dead grass. During May or June they lay from four
to six white eggs, speckled over the whole surface with reddish brown
and purplish; size 1.10 × .80.
501a. Rio Grande Meadowlark. _Sturnella magna hoopesi._
Range.--A brighter and slightly smaller variety found along the Mexican
border.
[Illustration 319: Dull bluish white.]
[Illustration: Meadowlark.]
[Illustration: Dull bluish white.]
[Illustration: White.]
[Illustration: 500--501.1.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]
Page 318
[Illustration 320: R. H. B. Beebe.
NEST AND EGGS OF MEADOWLARK.]
Page 319
501.1. WESTERN MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella neglecta._
Range.--North America west of the Mississippi and from Manitoba and
British Columbia southward, its range overlapping that of the eastern
Meadowlark in the Mississippi Valley, but the two varieties appear not
to intermingle. This variety is paler than the eastern, but the greatest
point of difference is in the songs, they being wholly unlike, and that
of the western bird much louder, sweeter and more varied than the simple
whistle of the eastern form. The nesting habits of both varieties are
the same and the eggs indistinguishable.
501c. SOUTHERN MEADOWLARK. _Sturnella magna argutula._
Range.--Florida and the Gulf coast.
A very similar bird to the northern form but slightly smaller and
darker. There is no difference between the eggs of the two varieties.
503. AUDUBON'S ORIOLE. _Icterus melanocephalus auduboni._
Range.--Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
This large Oriole has a wholly black head, neck, fore breast, tail and
wings; it is 9.5 inches in length. They are quite abundant and resident
in southern Texas where they build at low elevations in trees,
preferably mesquites, making the nests of woven grasses and hanging them
from the small twigs of the trees; the nests are more like those of the
Orchard Oriole and not long and pensile like those of the Baltimore. The
three to five eggs are grayish white, blotched, clouded, spotted or
streaked with brownish and purple. Size 1.00 x .70. Data.--Brownsville,
Texas, April 6, 1897. 5 eggs. Nest of threads from palmetto leaves,
hanging from limb of mesquite, 10 feet above ground in the open woods.
Collector, Frank B. Armstrong.
[Illustration 321: Audubon Oriole.]
[Illustration: White.]
[Illustration: deco-photo.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]
Page 320
504. SCOTT'S ORIOLE. _Icterus parisorum._
Range.--Western Mexico north to the adjoining states; north to Nevada.
This handsome black and yellow species does not appear to be abundant in
any part of its range. Their nests are swung from the under side of
leaves of the yucca palm or from small branches of low trees, and are
made of grass and fibres. The eggs are bluish white, specked and
blotched chiefly about the large end with blackish brown and lilac gray.
Size .95 X .65. Data.--Chiricahua Mts., Arizona, June 5, 1900. Nest
placed on the under side of a yucca palm leaf, being hung from the
spines, about 4 feet from the ground. Altitude 7000 feet. Collector, O.
W. Howard.
505. SENNETT'S ORIOLE. _Icterus cucullatus sennetti._
Range.--Mexico, north in summer to the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.