1956 Aphelocoma coerulescens March 5 Queens Rd, Berkeley Gathering Pair observed nest material. The male of the pair came into a thicket hedge and worked thru it systematically, pulling fairly thick twigs (1/8-1/4 inch in diameter) and attempting to bend them. The male did not succeed in breaking any twig but continued his efforts for fully five minutes. He then flew to a high vantage point as the female came out from a spot on the same slope carrying a large twig in her bill. He uttered a soft conversational chick note intermit- tently while examining twigs. The female was probably 200 feet away, and not within hearing of him at the time. The male, in searching for twigs, confined himself to the shrub shrubs, progressing even into dense twiggery where he worked his way through with slight awkwardness. He did not examine or call loose twigs on the ground around the hedges.