CORVUS.—CYANOCITTA. 489 
tide, near the mouths of the esteros or creeks, searching for the small crabs, snails, and 
other shell-fish which abound in such localities. 
In the autumn and winter months they congregate in large flocks, visiting the fields 
of Indian corn first ripened, in which they do considerable damage ; but, unlike the 
American Crow, it is not persecuted to death for this bit of roguery. The natives 
seldom molest them. They sometimes visit the sand-bars of the rivers in large flocks 
for the purpose of bathing. The voice of this Crow is somewhat like that of the 
common species, but less harsh—indeed some of its notes are quite musical. 
Subfam. GARRULINA. 
Alz breves, rotundate; cauda plus minusve elongata. 
A. Nares plus minusve plumis setosis obtecte. 
a. Plume nasales distincte a plumis frontis bene distinguende. 
CYANOCITTA. 
Cyanocitta, Strickland, Ann. & Mag. N. H. xv. p. 261 (1845) ; Sharpe, Cat. 'B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 106. 
We now confine this generic name to the crested Jays of the northern continent, 
whereof C. cristata is the typical species. The distinctive characters of the members 
of this genus are not very pronounced, at least so far as regards C. stelleri and its allied 
forms—so much so that the authors of the ‘ History of North-American Birds’ admit 
only two birds to rank as species, namely C. cristata and C. stelleri. It is with the 
latter alone we now have to deal. We recognize without much difficulty three forms 
of C. stellert in Mexico, namely C. macrolopha, a northern species found at least as 
far south as the Mexican State of Durango, C. diademata of the central highlands, and 
C. coronata of the southern highlands, the last-named species spreading southwards 
through the highlands of Guatemala to Honduras. The range of the two latter in 
Mexico has not yet been satisfactorily determined. 
Cyanocitta can be distinguished from Aphelocoma by its elongated crest, and by the 
wings being distinctly barred with black; these two genera have a common arrange- 
ment of the supranasal and frontal feathers. 
1. Cyanocitta macrolopha. 
Cyanocitta macrolopha, Baird, Pr. Ac. Phil. 1854, p. 118; Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p- 110°. 
Cyanura stelleri, var. macrolopha, Coues, B. N. W. p. 214; Baird, Brew., & Ridgw. N. Am. B. ii. 
p- 281°. 
Capite toto undique cum gutture et crista elongata nigris; gula cinerascente; fronte longitudinaliter sparsim 
albo striata ; macula supra et infra oculos alba ; dorso medio fuliginoso, imo ceruleo ; alis nigris, extrorsum 
ceruleis, secundariis lete cyaneis, internis nigro striatis, tectricibus majoribus quoque nigro maculatis, 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Aves, Vol. I., April 1887. 62 
