Pinon Jay in Ravalli County, Montana
Pifion Jay in Ravalli County, Montana.-On January 27, 1945, Truman Smith of the United States Public Health Laboratory at Hamilton, Montana, observed a flock of one hundred or more Pifion Jays (Cyanocephalus cyanocephalus) on Gird’s Creek east of Hamilton. From this flock he obtained two specimens, of which one was presented to the University Museum by Dr. William L. Jellison of the Public Health Service. Saunders (Pac. Coast Avif. No. 14, 1921:98) states that he knew of no records west of the continental divide in Montana. Since that time the following records have appeared: Weydemeyer (Condor, 29, 1927: 159) observed a flock of about forty near Eureka, Lincoln County, on January 11, 1921, and a small flock on August 21, 1924, north of Libby, Lincoln County. Wells (Condor, 30, 1928:322) saw a single individual at Missoula, *Missoula County, on November 14, 1926. Weydemeyer (Auk, 52, 1935:202) observed a single bird at Fortine, Lincoln County, on November 4, 1932. According to Saunders the bird is not uncommon in parts of eastern Montana. The above flock was apparently the first to be seen in Ravalli County and the two specimens are, to my knowledge, the iirst to be taken west of the divide in Montana.--PHILIP L. WRIGHT, Montana State University, Missoula, Montana, March 9, 1945.
