t thousand to eleven thousand
five hundred feet, these jays begin to breed. At that height this is
long before the snow ceases to fall; indeed, on the twentieth of June,
while making the descent from Pike's Peak, I was caught in a snowfall
that gave the ground quite a frosty aspect for a few minutes. One can
readily fancy, therefore, that the nests of these birds are often
surrounded with snow, and that the bantlings may get their first view
of the world in the swirl of a snow-squall. The nests are built in pine
bushes and trees at various distances from the ground. Of all the
hurly-burlies ever heard, that which these birds are able to make when
you go near their nests, or discover them, bears off the palm, their
voices being as raucous as a buzz-saw, fairly setting your teeth on
edge.

Those of us who live in the East are so accustomed to the adjective
"blue" in connection with the jay that we are surprised to find that _P.
c. capitalis_ wears no blue whatever, but dons a sombre suit of leaden
gray, somewhat relieved by the blackish shade of the wings and tail,
with their silvery or frosted lustre. He is certainly not an attractive
bird, either in dress or in form, for he appears very "thick-headed" and
lumpish, as if he scarcely knew enough to seek shelter in a time of
storm; but, of course, a bird that contrives to coax a livelihood out of
such unpromising surroundings must possess a fine degree of
intelligence, and, therefore, cannot be so much of a dullard as his
appearance would indicate.

He has some interesting ways, too, as will be seen from the following
quotation from a Colorado writer: "White-headed, grave, and sedate, he
seems a very paragon of propriety, and if you appear to be a suitable
personage, he will be apt to give you a bit of advice. Becoming
confidential, he sputters out a lot of nonsense which causes you to
think him a veritable 'whiskey Jack.' Yet, whenever he is disposed, a
more bland, mind-your-own-business appearing bird will be hard to find;
as will also many small articles around camp after one of his visits,
for his whimsical brain has a great fancy for anything which may be
valuable to you, but perfectly useless to himself." This habit of
purloining has won him the title of "camp robber" among the people of
the Rocky Mountains.

Woodhouse's jay, also peculiar to the Rocky Mountain region, is mostly
to be found along the base of the foothills and the lower wooded
mountains. While he