The Condor.
Bulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club.
A Bi-Monthly Exponent of Californian Ornithology.
In the Breeding Home of Clarke's Nutcracker.
(Nucifraga columbianus.)
An account of the taking of its nest and eggs in Utah, March 1900.
By H. C. Johnston, American Fork, Utah.[1]
[Read before the Northern Division of the Cooper Orn. Club, May. 5, 1900]
Before describing the finding of the nests and eggs of this species in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah in March of the present year, it may be interesting to review, briefly, the early history of the bird, with such remarks as are pertinent to the little-known nesting habits of the species, and the present known sets in collections.
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H. C. Johnston,
who secured the nutcrackers' eggs.
Lewis' and Clarke's Expedition was responsible for the discovery of three birds new to science; the Louisiana Tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), Lewis's Woodpecker (Melanerpes torquatus), and Clarke's Crow (Nucifraga columbianus). This expedition in charge of the two officers of the United States Army whose names it bore, was sent out by the Government in 1804-6. It explored from sources of the Missouri River, across the Rocky Mountains and down the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. The first mention ever made of tile bird whose name heads this sketch is found in the journal of Capt. William Clarke. It reads: "On the afternoon of August 22nd, 1805, among the woods I observed a new species of woodpecker (?), the face and tail of which are white, wings black, and every other part of the body dark brown and its size was that of a robin." A singularly incorrect description of the bird and its size! From one specimen, — the only one brought back by the expedition — Alex. Wilson formally described the species in his American Ornithology III, 1811, on page 2, and figures the bird quite correctly in plate XX, Fig. 2, naming it after Capt. Clarke. The type specimen was deposited in Peale's Museum in Philadelphia, then the foremost museum in America.
The breeding habits of Clarke's Nutcracker remained a secret for many years, the flint authentic sets being those taken and recorded by Bendire from Camp Harney, Oregon, as follows: April 2, 1876, one nest with one young bird and two chipped eggs, twenty-five feet from the ground in a large pine tree; April 4, 1878, same locality, nest and three incubated eggs. Thrown to
- ↑ I am indebted to Miss Jean Bell for valuable notes concerning the early history of Clarke's Crow, as well as the record of the sets of this species previously known to science.—H. C. J.
