American Nutcracker
“Picicorvus. American Nutcracker. General characteristics of the European Nucifraga. Bill slenderer, more acute, with more regularly curved culmen and commissure, and straight instead of convex and ascending gonys as a whole somewhat decurved. Nostrils circular, concealed by a full tuft of plumules. Wings long and pointed, folding to the end of the tail; 5th quill longest; 4th, 3d, 6th little less; 2d much shorter, 1st not half as long as 5th. Tail little over half as long as wing, little rounded. Tarsus shorter than middle toe and claw; the envelope divided into small plates on the sides behind the bottom. Claws very large, strong, acute and much curved, especially that of the hind toe; the lateral reaching beyond base of the middle claw. Coloration peculiar; gray, with black-and-white wings and tail. Habits much the same as those of Nucifraga; alpine and sub-boreal, pinicoline, and pinivorous. One species, confined to West Amer.” Elliot Coues, 1884
Keywords
birds, ornithology, North American birds, omnivorous birds, passerine birds, non-migratory birds, "Picicorvus, American NutcrackerGalleries
Birds: M-OSource
Elliot Coues Key to North American Birds (Boston, MA: Estes and Lauriat, 1884)
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