A History of North American Birds, Land Birds. Volume 2

Cyanura cristata, Swainson

BLUE JAY

Corvus cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, (10th ed.,) 1758, 106; (12th ed.,) 1766, 157.—Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 369.—Wilson, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 2, pl. I, f. 1.—Bon. Obs. Wilson, 1824, No. 41.—Doughty, Cab. N. H. II, 1832, 62, pl. vi.—Aud. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 11; V, 1839, 475, pl. cii. Garrulus cristatus, “Vieillot, Encyclop. 890.”—Ib. Dict. XI, 477.—Bon. Syn. 1828, 58.—Sw. F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 293.—Vieillot, Galerie, I, 1824, 160, pl. cii.—Aud. Birds Am. IV, 110, pl. ccxxxi.—Max. Caban. J. 1858, VI, 192. Pica cristata, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, Pica, No. 8. Cyanurus cristatus, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, App. 495.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 580.—Samuels, 364.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 297. Cyanocorax cristatus, Bon. List, 1838. Cyanocitta cristata, Strickland, Ann. Mag. N. H. 1845, 261.—Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 221. Cyanogarrulus cristatus, Bon. Consp. 1850, 376.

Sp. Char. Crest about one third longer than the bill. Tail much graduated. General color above light purplish-blue; wings and tail-feathers ultramarine-blue; the secondaries and tertials, the greater wing-coverts, and the exposed surface of the tail, sharply banded with black and broadly tipped with white, except on the central tail-feathers. Beneath white; tinged with purplish-blue on the throat, and with bluish-brown on the sides. A black crescent on the forepart of the breast, the horns passing forward and connecting with a half-collar on the back of the neck. A narrow frontal line and loral region black; feathers on the base of the bill blue, like the crown. Female rather duller in color, and a little smaller. Length, 12.25; wing, 5.65; tail, 5.75.

Hab. Eastern North America, west to the Missouri. Northeastern Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 494). North to Red River and Moose Factory.

Specimens from north of the United States are larger than more southern ones. A series of specimens from Florida, brought by Mr. Boardman, are quite peculiar in some respects, and probably represent a local race resident there. In these Florida specimens the wing and tail are each an inch or more shorter than in Pennsylvania examples, while the bill is not any smaller. The crest is very short; the white spaces on secondaries and tail-feathers more restricted.

Cyanura cristata.

Habits. The common Blue Jay of North America is found throughout the continent, from the Atlantic coast to the Missouri Valley, and from Florida and Texas to the fur regions nearly or quite to the 56th parallel. It was found breeding near Lake Winnepeg by Donald Gunn. It was also observed in these regions by Sir John Richardson. It was met with by Captain Blakiston on the forks of the Saskatchewan, but not farther west.

The entire family to which this Jay belongs, and of which it is a very conspicuous member, is nearly cosmopolitan as to distribution, and is distinguished by the remarkable intelligence of all its members. Its habits are striking, peculiar, and full of interest, often evincing sagacity, forethought, and intelligence strongly akin to reason. These traits belong not exclusively to any one species or generic subdivision, but are common to the whole family.

When first met with in the wild and unexplored regions of our country, the Jay appears shy and suspicious of the intruder, man. Yet, curious to a remarkable degree, he follows the stranger, watches all his movements, hovers with great pertinacity about his steps, ever keeping at a respectful distance, even before he has been taught to beware of the deadly gun. Afterwards, as he becomes better acquainted with man, the Jay conforms his own conduct to the treatment he receives. Where he is hunted in wanton sport, because of brilliant plumage, or persecuted because of unjust prejudices and a bad reputation not deserved, he is shy and wary, shuns, as much as possible, human society, and, when the hunter intrudes into his retreat, seems to delight to follow and annoy him, and to give the alarm to all dwellers of the woods that their foe is approaching.

In parts of the country, as in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and other Western States, where the Jay is unmolested and exempt from persecution, we find him as familiar and confiding as any of the favored birds of the Eastern States. In the groves of Iowa Mr. Allen found our Blue Jay nearly as unsuspicious as a Black-capped Titmouse. In Illinois he speaks of them as very abundant and half domestic. And again, in Indiana, in one of the principal streets of Richmond, the same gentleman found the nest of these birds in a lilac-bush, under the window of a dwelling. In the summer of 1843 I saw a nest of the Jay, filled with young, in a tree standing near the house of Mr. Audubon, in the city of New York. The habits of no two species can well be more unlike than are those which persecution on the one hand and kind treatment on the other have developed in this bird.

The Blue Jay, wherever found, is more or less resident. This is especially the case in the more southern portions of its area of reproduction. In Texas, Dr. Lincecum informs us, this Jay remains both summer and winter. It is there said to build its nest of mud, a material rarely if ever used in more northern localities; and when placed not far from dwelling-houses, it is lined with cotton thread, rags of calico, and the like. They are, he writes, very intelligent and sensible birds, subsisting on insects, acorns, etc. He has occasionally known them to destroy bats. In Texas they seem to seek the protection of man, and to nest near dwellings as a means of safety against Hawks. They nest but once a year, and lay but four eggs. In a female dissected by him, he detected one hundred and twelve ova, and from these data he infers that the natural life of a Jay is about thirty years.

Mr. Allen mentions finding the Blue Jay in Kansas equally at home, and as vivacious and even more gayly colored than at the North. While it seemed to have forgotten none of the droll notes and fantastic ways always to be expected from it, there was added to its manners that familiarity which characterizes it in the more newly settled portions of the country, occasionally surprising one with some new expression of feeling or sentiment, or some unexpected eccentricity in its varied notes, perhaps developed by the more southern surroundings.

The Blue Jay is arboreal in its habits. It prefers the shelter and security of thick covers to more open ground. It is omnivorous, eating either animal or vegetable food, though with an apparent preference for the former, feeding upon insects, their eggs and larvæ, and worms, wherever procurable. It also lays up large stores of acorns and beech mast for food in winter, when insects cannot be procured in sufficient abundance. Even at this season it hunts for and devours in large quantities the eggs of the destructive tent caterpillar.

The Jay is charged with a propensity to destroy the eggs and young of the smaller birds, and has even been accused of killing full-grown birds. I am not able to verify these charges, but they seem to be too generally conceded to be disputed. These are the only serious grounds of complaint that can be brought against it, and are more than outweighed, tenfold, by the immense services it renders to man in the destruction of his enemies. Its depredations on the garden or the farm are too trivial to be mentioned.

The Blue Jay is conspicuous as a musician. He exhibits a variety in his notes, and occasionally a beauty and a harmony in his song, for which few give him due credit. Wilson compares his position among our singing birds to that of the trumpeter in the band. His notes he varies to an almost infinite extent, at one time screaming with all his might, at another warbling with all the softness of tone and moderation of the Bluebird, and again imparting to his voice a grating harshness that is indescribable.

The power of mimicry possessed by the Jay, though different from, is hardly surpassed by that of the Mocking-Bird. It especially delights to imitate the cries of the Sparrow Hawk, and at other times those of the Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks are given with such similarity that the small birds fly to a covert, and the inmates of the poultry-yard are in the greatest alarm. Dr. Jared P. Kirtland, of Cleveland, on whose grounds a large colony of Jays took up their abode and became very familiar, has given me a very interesting account of their habits. The following is an extract: “They soon became so familiar as to feed about our yards and corn-cribs. At the dawn of every pleasant day throughout the year, the nesting-season excepted, a stranger in my house might well suppose that all the axles in the country were screeching aloud for lubrication, hearing the harsh and discordant utterances of these birds. During the day the poultry might be frequently seen running into their hiding-places, and the gobbler with his upturned eye searching the heavens for the enemy, all excited and alarmed by the mimic utterances of the adapt ventriloquists, the Jays, simulating the cries of the Red-shouldered and the Red-tailed Hawks. The domestic circle of the barn-yard evidently never gained any insight into the deception by experience; for, though the trick was repeated every few hours, the excitement would always be re-enacted.”

When reared from the nest, these birds become very tame, and are perfectly reconciled to confinement. They very soon grow into amusing pets, learning to imitate the human voice, and to simulate almost every sound that they hear. Wilson gives an account of one that had been brought up in a family of a gentleman in South Carolina that displayed great intelligence, and had all the loquacity of a parrot. This bird could utter several words with great distinctness, and, whenever called, would immediately answer to its name with great sociability.

The late Dr. Esteep, of Canton, Ohio, an experienced bird-fancier, assured Dr. Kirtland that he has invariably found the Blue Jay more ingenious, cunning, and teachable than any other species of bird he has ever attempted to instruct.

PLATE XXXIX.

1. Cyanura stelleri. ♂ Oregon, 46040.

2. Cyanura stelleri. var. frontalis. ♂ Sierra Nevada, 53639.

3. Cyanura macrolopha. ♂ Ariz., 41015.

4. Cyanura coronata. ♂ Xalapa, 16313.

Dr. Kirtland has also informed me of the almost invaluable services rendered to the farmers in his neighborhood, by the Blue Jays, in the destruction of caterpillars. When he first settled on his farm, he found every apple and wild-cherry tree in the vicinity extensively disfigured and denuded of its leaves by the larvæ of the Clisiocampa americana, or the tent caterpillar. The evil was so extensive that even the best farmers despaired of counteracting it. Not long after the Jays colonized upon his place he found they were feeding their young quite extensively with these larvæ, and so thoroughly that two or three years afterwards not a worm was to be seen in that neighborhood; and more recently he has searched for it in vain, in order to rear cabinet specimens of the moth.

The Jay builds a strong coarse nest in the branch of some forest or orchard tree, or even in a low bush. It is formed of twigs rudely but strongly interwoven, and is lined with dark fibrous roots. The eggs are usually five, and rarely six in number.

The eggs of this species are usually of a rounded-oval shape, obtuse, and of very equal size at either end. Their ground-color is a brownish-olive, varying in depth, and occasionally an olive-drab. They are sparingly spotted with darker olive-brown. In size they vary from 1.05 to 1.20 inches in length, and in breadth from .82 to .88 of an inch. Their average size is about 1.15 by .86 of an inch.

Cyanura stelleri, Swainson

STELLER’S JAY

Corvus stelleri, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 370.—Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 1790, 158.—Pallas, Zoog. Rosso-As. I, 1811, 393.—Bonap. Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 49.—Ib. Suppl. Syn. 1828, 433.—Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 453, pl. ccclxii. Garrulus stelleri, Vieillot, Dict. XII, 1817, 481.—Bonap. Am. Orn. II, 1828, 44, pl. xiii.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 229.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 154.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 107, pl. ccxxx (not of Swainson, F. Bor.-Am.?). Cyanurus stelleri, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 495, App. Pica stelleri, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, Pica, No. 10. Cyanocorax stelleri, Bon. List, 1838. Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 40 (Alaska). Cyanocitta stelleri, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 221. Newberry, P. R. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 85. Cyanogarrulus stelleri, Bonap. Conspectus, 1850, 377. Steller’s Crow, Pennant, Arctic Zoöl. II, Sp. 139. Lath. Syn. I, 387. Cyanura s. Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 581 (in part). Lord, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 122 (British Columbia; nest).—Dall & Bannister, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, 1869, 486 (Alaska).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 298 (in part).

Sp. Char. Crest about one third longer than the bill. Fifth quill longest; second about equal to the secondary quills. Tail graduated; lateral feathers about .70 of an inch shortest. Head and neck all round, and forepart of breast, dark brownish-black. Back and lesser wing-coverts blackish-brown, the scapulars glossed with blue. Under parts, rump, tail-coverts, and wings greenish-blue; exposed surfaces of lesser quills dark indigo-blue; tertials and ends of tail-feathers rather obsoletely banded with black. Feathers of the forehead streaked with greenish-blue. Length, about 13.00; wing, 5.85; tail, 5.85; tarsus, 1.75 (1,921).

Hab. Pacific coast of North America, from the Columbia River to Sitka; east to St. Mary’s Mission, Rocky Mountains.

Habits. Dr. Suckley regarded Steller’s Jay as probably the most abundant bird of its size in all the wooded country between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific. He describes it as tame, loquacious, and possessed of the most impudent curiosity. It is a hardy, tough bird, and a constant winter resident of Washington Territory. It is remarkable for its varied cries and notes, and seems to have one for every emotion or pursuit in which it is engaged. It also has a great fondness for imitating the notes of other birds. Dr. Suckley states that frequently when pleasantly excited by the hope of obtaining a rare bird, in consequence of hearing an unknown note issuing from some clump of bushes or thicket, he has been not a little disappointed by finding that it had issued from this Jay. It mimics accurately the principal cry of the Catbird.

Dr. Cooper also found it very common in all the forests on both sides of the Cascade Mountains. While it seemed to depend chiefly upon the forest for its food, in the winter it would make visits to the vicinity of houses, and steal anything eatable it could find within its reach, even potatoes. In these forages upon the gardens and farm-yards, they are both silent and watchful, evidently conscious of the peril of their undertaking, and when discovered they instantly fly off to the concealment of the forests. They also make visits to the Indian lodges when the owners are absent, and force their way into them if possible, one of their number keeping watch. In the forest they do not appear to be shy or timid, but boldly follow those who intrude upon their domain, screaming, and calling their companions around them. Hazel-nuts are one of their great articles of winter food; and Dr. Cooper states that, in order to break the shell, the Jay resorts to the ingenious expedient of taking them to a branch of a tree, fixing them in a crotch or cavity, and hammering them with its bill until it can reach the meat within. Their nest he describes as large, loosely built of sticks, and placed in a bush or low tree.

At certain seasons of the year its food consisted almost entirely of the seeds of the pine, particularly of P. brachyptera, which Dr. Newberry states he has often seen them extracting from the cones, and with which the stomachs of those he killed were usually filled. He found these birds ranging as far north as the line of the British Territory, and from the coast to the Rocky Mountains.

In his Western journey Mr. Nuttall met with these birds in the Blue Mountains of the Oregon, east of Walla-walla. There he found them scarce and shy. Afterwards he found them abundant in the pine forests of the Columbia, where their loud trumpeting clangor was heard at all hours of the day, calling out with a loud voice, djay-djay, or chattering with a variety of other notes, some of them similar to those of the common Blue Jay. They are more bold and familiar than our Jay. Watchful as a dog, no sooner does a stranger show himself in their vicinity than they neglect all other employment to come round him, following and sometimes scolding at him with great pertinacity and signs of irritability. At other times, stimulated by curiosity, they follow for a while in perfect silence, until something seems to arouse their ire, and then their vociferous cries are poured out with unceasing volubility till the intruder has passed from their view.

In the month of May, Mr. Nuttall found a nest of these birds in a small sapling of the Douglas fir, on the borders of a dense forest, and, some time after, a second nest with young, in an elevated branch of another fir, on the border of a rocky cliff. The first nest contained four eggs, of a pale green, marked with small olive-brown spots, varied with others inclining to a violet hue. The parents flew at him with the utmost anger and agitation, almost deafening him with their cries; and although he took only two of their eggs, the next day he found they had forsaken their nest. This nest was bulky, made of interlaced twigs and roots, with a stout layer of mud, and lined with black rootlets. One of the eggs taken by Mr. Nuttall is in my cabinet, and is as he describes it, except that the obscure markings of violet have nearly faded out. It measures 1.20 inches in length, and .90 in breadth, is oval in shape, and a little more obtuse at one end than at the other.

This Jay was obtained by Steller at Nootka, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in latitude 50°. It was also found in abundance by Mr. Dall at Sitka, in British Columbia, where a number of specimens were obtained by Mr. Bischoff and by Mr. Elliot.

Mr. J. K. Lord states that this Jay ever makes its presence known by the constant utterance of discordant screams. It is continually hopping from bough to bough, darting down to catch an insect, performing short, erratic flights, and jerking up and down its crest of bright feathers. Its noisy song seems to be everywhere. It is the embodiment of restlessness, and, by dint of sheer impudence, attracts attention even from the hunter. He adds that it seemed fond of frequenting the haunts of man, and is always plentiful near Indian lodges or white men’s shanties. It is by no means epicurean in taste, but readily devours anything, whether seeds or salmon, grasshoppers or venison. Its nest he found artfully concealed amidst the thick foliage of a young pine-tree. It was composed of moss, small twigs, lichens, and fir fronds, and lined with deer’s hair. The average number of eggs laid appears to be seven.

Cyanura stelleri, var. frontalis, Ridgway

SIERRA JAY

Cyanura stelleri, Auct. All reference to Steller’s Jay as occurring in California, excepting on the northern Coast Range, relate to this variety.

Sp. Char. Head, neck, and dorsal region plumbeous-umber, darker on the head, and posteriorly changing gradually into the light greenish-blue of the rest of the body; wings and tail deep indigo-blue, the tertials, secondaries, and tail conspicuously marked with broad and rather distant bars of black; primaries greenish light-blue, like the rump, abdomen, etc. Whole forehead conspicuously streaked with blue (the streaks forming two parallel series, where the feathers are not disarranged), and the crest strongly tinged with blue. ♂ (53,639, Carson City, Nevada, April 30, 1868): wing, 6.00; tail, 6.00; culmen, 1.25; depth of bill, .35; tarsus, 1.55; middle toe, .90; crest, 2.80. ♀ (53,640, Carson City, Nevada, April 30, 1868): wing, 5.70; tail, 5.50. Young with the blue of the body and head entirely replaced by a sooty grayish; and that of the wings and tail duller, and less distinctly barred.

Hab. Whole length of the Sierra Nevada, from Fort Crook (where it approaches var. stelleri) to Fort Tejon.

In the colors of the body, wings, and tail, this well-marked race resembles C. macrolopha in every respect, except that the greater coverts are not barred with black; there being the same abrupt contrast between the deep blue of the wings and tail, and the light greenish-blue of the body, tail-coverts, and primaries,—seen only in these two forms. The variety is confined to the mountains of California and Western Nevada, extending along the Sierra Nevada about the entire length of the State, there being specimens in the collection from Fort Crook and Fort Tejon, and intermediate localities.

Habits. The Blue-fronted Jay, so far as it was observed by Mr. Ridgway, was found to be exclusively an inhabitant of the pine woods of the Sierra Nevada, and is, with Clarke’s Nutcracker, one of the most characteristic birds of that region. In its general habits and manners, it greatly resembles the eastern Blue Jay, but is rather more shy, while its notes are very different, and do not possess the variety and flexibility of the cristata, but are in comparison harsh and discordant. The usual note is a hoarse, deep-toned monosyllabic squawk. Sometimes it utters a hollow sonorous chatter.

Near Carson City one of these birds had been winged by a shot, and, in falling, alighted on the lower branches of a pine-tree. Upon an attempt to capture it, the bird began to ascend the tree limb by limb, at the same time uttering a perfect imitation of the cry of the Red-tailed Hawk, evidently in the hope of frightening away his tormentors. Dr. Newberry regards this Jay as the western counterpart of the C. cristata. By its more conspicuous crest, its bold, defiant air, and its excessively harsh and disagreeable cry, it challenges and secures attention. He found it almost exclusively confined to the hilly and mountainous districts, choosing in preference those covered with pines.

Dr. Heermann found these Jays abundant and resident as far south as Warner’s Ranch, where, though common, they were for some reason so unusually wild and vigilant as not to be easily procurable. In feeding, he observed that they seemed always to begin in the lower branches and ascend, hopping from twig to twig, to the topmost point, and, while thus employed, utter a harsh screaming note that can be heard to a considerable distance.

This species, Dr. Cooper states, is numerous in the mountains of California, inhabiting the whole length of the Sierra Nevada, and the Coast Range as far south, at least, as Santa Cruz. Though showing a decided preference for the pine forests, they sometimes in winter frequent those of oaks. They are omnivorous, eating seeds, acorns, nuts, insects, and in winter even potatoes and dead fish. They are at times bold and prying, and at others very cautious and suspicious. They soon learn to appreciate a gun, and show great sagacity in their movements to avoid its peril. On the Columbia they lay in May, and in California about a month earlier.

Cyanura stelleri, var. macrolopha, Baird

LONG-CRESTED JAY

Cyanocitta macrolopha, Baird, Pr. A. N. Sc.Phila. VII, June, 1854, 118 (Albuquerque). ? Garrulus stelleri, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 294, pl. liv (head-waters of Columbia; figure of a bird intermediate between C. stelleri and macrolopha). Cyanura macrolopha, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 582.—Elliot, Illust. Am. B, I, xvii.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 300.

Sp. Char. Crest nearly twice the length of the bill. Tail moderately graduated; the lateral feathers about .60 of an inch shorter than the middle. Fourth and fifth quills longest; second shorter than the secondaries. Head all round, throat, and forepart of the breast, black, the crest with a gloss of blue; rest of back dark ashy-brown with a gloss of greenish. Under parts, rump, tail-coverts, and outer surfaces of primaries, greenish-blue; greater coverts, secondaries, and tertials, and upper surface of tail-feathers bright blue, banded with black; forehead streaked with opaque white, passing behind into pale blue; a white patch over the eye. Chin grayish. Length, 12.50; wing, 5.85; tail, 5.85; tarsus, 1.70 (8,351).

Hab. Central line of Rocky Mountains from northern border of the United States to table-lands of Mexico; Fort Whipple, Arizona.

Young birds have the bright blue of body and black of head replaced by a dull slate; the head unvaried.

An apparent link between this variety and C. stelleri is represented in the Smithsonian collection by three specimens from the region towards the head-waters of the Columbia, where the respective areas of distribution of the two overlap. In this the anterior parts of the body are nearly as black as in stelleri (much darker than macrolopha), with the short crest; but the forehead (except in one specimen) is streaked with blue, and there is a white patch over the eye. As in stelleri, there are no black bars on the greater wing-coverts. As this is an abundant form, whether permanent race or hybrid, it may be called var. annectens.

Habits. The Long-crested Jay appears to occur throughout the central range of the Rocky Mountains from British Columbia to Mexico, where it is replaced by a closely allied species or race, the Cyanura coronata of Swainson.

Mr. Ridgway met with this Jay only among the Wahsatch and the Uintah Mountains. They appeared to be rather common in those regions, though far from being abundant. In their manners and in their notes they are described as having been almost an exact counterpart of the Sierra Nevada form. Their notes, however, are said to be not so loud nor so coarse as those of the more western species. A nest, found by Mr. Ridgway, June 25, 1869, in Parley’s Park, Wahsatch Mountains, was in a small fir-tree on the edge of a wood. It was saddled on a horizontal branch about fifteen feet from the ground, and contained six eggs. The base of the nest was composed of coarse strong sticks, rudely put together. Upon this was constructed a solid, firm plastering of mud of a uniform concave shape, lined with fine wiry roots. The external diameter is about nine inches, and the height of the nest four. The interior is five inches in diameter, and three in depth.

The species was first described by Professor Baird, from specimens obtained by Dr. Kennerly, who writes that he first saw this bird among the lofty pines of the Sierra Madre in November, 1853. Leaving that range, he did not meet with it again until his party crossed the Aztec Mountains, in January, 1854, where it was less abundant than when first met with. It was, for the most part, found among the cedars on the high grounds, though occasionally seen among the clumps of large pines that were scattered along the valley. The party did not meet with it again.

Dr. Coues found this species a common and a resident bird in Arizona. It was observed to be almost exclusively an inhabitant of pine woods, and was generally to be met with only in small companies, never congregating in the manner of Woodhouse’s Jay. He describes it as very shy, vigilant, noisy, and tyrannical.

The eggs of C. macrolopha measure 1.30 inches in length and .91 in breadth. Their ground-color is a light sea-green. They are somewhat sparingly spotted with fine markings of dark olive-brown, and lighter cloudings of a purplish or violet brown. They are oblong oval in shape, obtuse at either end, but more tapering at one end. They appear to be a little larger than the eggs of stelleri, and the ground-color is brighter, and the markings deeper and more of an olive hue.

Genus CYANOCITTA, Strickland

Cyanocitta, Strickland, Annals and Mag. N. H. XV, 1845, 260. (Type, Garrulus californicus, Vigors.)

Aphelocoma, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 221. (Same type.)

Char. Head without crest. Wings and tail blue, without any bands. Back usually with a gray patch, different from the head. Bill about as broad as high at the base, and the culmen a little shorter than the head. Nostrils large, nearly circular, and concealed. Tail nearly equal to the wings, lengthened, graduated, or else shorter and nearly even.

This genus is readily distinguished from the preceding by the entire absence of crest and of black bars on the blue of wings and tail. The species and races hitherto described will be found detailed in the accompanying synopsis. The characters indicated above are of no very great generic value, but as the group is a very natural one it will be as well to retain it. As in Cyanura, the species are peculiar to the United States and Mexico, one indeed being apparently confined to the Peninsula of Florida.

Cyanocitta californica.

8455

It would perhaps be not very far out of the way to consider Sections A and B as representing in their general characters, respectively, the types from which their subdivisions have sprung.

A. Tail longer than wings. A superciliary stripe of whitish streaks; jugular and pectoral feathers faintly edged with bluish, posteriorly forming an indistinct collar, interrupted medially. Ear-coverts dusky, except in var. woodhousei.

a. Forehead and nasal tufts hoary white; the superciliary stripe a continuous wash of the same. Scapulars blue like the wings; dorsal region (the interscapulars) as light-colored as the lower parts.

C. floridana. Back and lower parts pale ashy-brown; lower tail-coverts bright blue. Wing, 4.50; tail, 5.70; bill, 1.20 and .35; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .85. Wing-formula, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, 8, 9, 2, 10; first, 1.80 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, 1.50. Hab. Florida (only).

b. Forehead and nasal tufts bright blue; superciliary stripe composed of narrow streaks; scapulars ashy like the back; back much darker than the lower parts.

C. californica.

Lower tail-coverts bright blue, dorsal region not well-defined ashy; auriculars bluish, beneath continuous pure ash. Superciliary streak well defined. Wing, 5.15; tail, 6.00; bill, 1.35 and .30; tarsus, 1.40; middle toe, .85. Wing-formula, fourth, fifth, and sixth equal; 7, 3, 8, 9 = 2; first, 1.80 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, .90. Hab. Rocky Mountains and Middle Province of United States … var. woodhousei.

Lower tail-coverts pure white; dorsal region well-defined ashy; auriculars blackish; beneath dull white, approaching ash on breast. Superciliary streak indistinct. Wing, 5.65; tail, 6.00; bill, 1.20 and .35; tarsus, 1.42; middle toe, .90. Wing-formula, 5, 6, 7, 4, 8, 3, 9, 10 = 2; first, 2.20 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, .80. Hab. Mexico (Orizaba; City of Mexico) … var. sumichrasti.⁵⁸

Superciliary streak sharply defined, conspicuous. Wing, 5.00; tail, 5.60; bill, 1.20 and .37; tarsus, 1.55; middle toe, .95. Wing-formula, 4, 5, 6, 7, 3, 8, 9, 2, 10; first, 2.10 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, 1.15. Hab. Pacific Province of United States; Cape St. Lucas … var. californica.

B. Tail not longer than wings, or considerably shorter. No superciliary stripe, and no streaks on throat or jugulum. Auriculars blue like the crown.

C. ultramarina. Lower parts whitish, conspicuously different from the upper.

Tail nearly, or perfectly even

Length, 13.00; tail even; bill, 1.50; tail, 7.00. Hab. Mexico … var. ultramarina.⁵⁹

Length, 11.50; tail very slightly rounded (graduation, .25 only); bill, 1.28 and .35; tail, 50. Above bright blue, dorsal region obscured slightly with ashy; beneath dull pale ash, becoming gradually whitish posteriorly, the crissum being pure ash. Lores blue. Tarsus, 1.45; middle toe, .95. Wing-formula, 5, 4 = 6, 7, 3, 8, 9, 10, 2; first, 2.10 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, .25. Hab. Lower Rio Grande … var. couchi.

Tail considerably rounded

Colors as in couchi, but dorsal region scarcely obscured by ashy. Lores black. Wing, 7.50; tail, 7.50; bill, 1.30 and .40; tarsus, 1.60; middle toe, .90. Wing-formula, 5, 4, 6, 3 = 7, 8, 9, 2; first, 2.75, shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, 1.15. Hab. Mexico (Orizaba, Mirador, etc.) … var. sordida.⁶⁰

Graduation of the colors as in sordida, but the blue, instead of being a bright ultramarine, is very much paler and duller, and with a greenish cast, the whole dorsal region decidedly ashy; ash of the pectoral region much paler, and throat similar, instead of decidedly whitish, in contrast; pure white of posterior lower parts covering whole abdomen instead of being confined to crissum. Wing, 6.20; tail, 5.70; bill, 1.30 and .40; tarsus, 1.50; middle toe, .97. Wing-formula, fourth, fifth, and sixth equal; 7, 3, 8, 9, 2; first, 2.20, shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, .50. Hab. Southern Rocky Mountains (Fort Buchanan, and Copper Mines, Arizona) … var. arizonæ.

C. unicolor. ⁶¹ Lower parts bright blue, like the upper. Entirely uniform rich ultramarine-blue; lores black. Wing, 6.70; tail, 6.70; bill, 1.30 and .50; tarsus, 1.45; middle toe, .95. Wing-formula, 5, 6, 4, 7, 3, 8, 9, 2; first, 2.60 shorter than longest. Graduation of tail, 1.50. Hab. Southern Mexico (Cordova, Mirador, etc.); Guatemala.

In the first section of this group we see the same indication of variation from a common type with the region that is so evident in Cyanura. Thus, Cyanocitta woodhousei differs from californica, much as Cyanura macrolopha does from C. stelleri (var. frontalis), in more slender bill and a greater percentage of blue; this invading the back and under parts, the lower tail-coverts especially. But here the parallel of modification ends, for the Mexican representative of the species (C. sumichrasti) appears to revert back to the characters of californica, having like it a minimum amount of blue, though this almost obliterates the superciliary stripe of white. In this respect there is more resemblance to the case of Pipilo fusca and its three races in the three regions inhabited by these representative forms of Cyanocitta californica; for, while the Mexican (P. fusca) and Californian (P. crissalis) are very much alike, the one from the intervening region (P. mesoleuca) is more different from the two extreme races than they are from each other.