unners and pot
hunters by the owner, whose residence commanded a full view of the whole
area; and, second, large spaces of the upper end of the lake was thickly
grown with flags and rushes, which were cut off from the shore by a
watery space of considerable breadth. In this place these birds found
coverts from enemies and suitable sites for their nests.

A BIRD MISCELLANY

It shall be my purpose in this chapter to describe with more or less
fulness a number of Rocky Mountain birds which have either not been
mentioned in previous chapters or have received only casual attention.

On reaching Colorado one is surprised to find none of our common blue
jays which are so abundant in the Eastern and Middle States. In my
numerous Rocky Mountain jaunts not one was seen. Yet this region does
not need to go begging for jays, only they belong to different groups of
the _Garrulinae_ subfamily. The most abundant and conspicuous of these
western forms are the long-crested jays, so called on account of the
long tuft of black feathers adorning the occiput. This distinguishing
mark is not like the firm pyramidal crest of the eastern jay, but is
longer and narrower, and so flexible that it sways back and forth as the
bird flits from branch to branch or takes a hop-skip-and-jump over the
ground. Its owner can raise and lower it at will.

The forehead of this jay is prettily sprinkled with white; his head and
neck are black, in decided contrast with the umber-brown of the back;
his rump and belly are pale blue, and his wings and tail are rich
indigo-blue, somewhat iridescent and widely barred with black. Thus it
will be seen that he has quite a different costume from that of our
eastern jay, with his gaudy trimmings of white and black and purplish
blue. The westerner cannot boast of _cristata's_ dressy black collar,
but otherwise he is more richly attired, although he may not be quite so
showy.

The long-crested jays have a wide range among the mountains, breeding
from the base of the foothills to the timber-line, although their nests
are not commonly found below an altitude of seven thousand feet. In many
places from nine to eleven thousand feet up the acclivities of the
mountains they were seen flitting among the pines or the quaking asps.
Like their eastern relatives, some individuals seem to prefer the
society of man, dwelling in the villages or in the vicinity of country
homes, while others choose the most secluded and soli