302 NORTH AMERICAiS' BIRDS. 



Perisoreus canadensis, vai. obscurus, Ridgway. 



ALASKAN GEAY JAY. 



Perisoreus caimdensis, Cooper & Suckley, 216. — Dall & Bannister, Tr. Chic. Ac. I, 

 1869, 286 (Alaska). — FiNscH, Abli. Nat. Ill, 1872, 40 ;.\la.ska). — Cooper, Orn. Cal. 

 1, 1870, 307. 



Sp. Chau. (8,454 Shoahvater Bay. W. T., March 10, 1854 ; Dr. .1. G. Cooper.) Above 

 plunibeous-umber, inclining to grayish-plumbeous on wings and tail; shafts of the dorsal 

 feathers conspicuously white. Whole crown and nape, above the lores and auriculars, 

 sooty-black ; separated from the lirown of the back by a whitish tint. Forehead (narrow- 

 ly), nasal tufts, lores, whole lateral and under side of head, with jngulum, pure white, rest 

 of lower parts a duller and more brownish white. Wing, 5.50; tail, 5.30; culmen, .93; 

 tarsus, 1.20. Young (5,904, Shoalwater Bay). Entirely plumbeous-brown, inclining to 

 brownish-white beneath. Dorsal feathers with white shafts, and those of the forehead, 

 crown, and nape, as well as the wing-coverts, with obsolete whitish borders. 



This form, as described above, seems to be pectiliar to the northwest coast, 

 reaching its extreme development in Washington Territory and Oregon. 

 North of Sitka, and in the Yukon Territory, specimens incline toward the 

 var. canadensis, in broader frontal white, and ptirer plumbeous colors. 



Habits. Dr. Cooper met witli this variety at the mouth of the Columbia 

 Eiver in March in small scattered flocks, industriously seeking insects and 

 seeds among the spruce-trees, occasionally whistling in a loud melodious 

 tone like that of the Cardinal Grosbeak. He also states that the notes of this 

 bird difler much from the otlier Jays in being clear and musical, and they 

 sometimes show a considerable variety of sung. 



This Jay, Mr. Lord states, is so familiar and confiding, and so fond of 

 beins near the hahitations of man, that the settlers never harm it. In the 

 cold weather he has seen it hop by the fire, ruffle up its feathers and 

 warm itself without the least fear, keepiug a sharp lookout for crumbs, and 

 looking so beseechingly with its glittering gray eyes, that no one could 

 refuse such an apjjeal for a stray morsel It winters in British Columbia 

 and Vancouver Island. 



;2.^y l Perisoreus canadensis, var. capitalis, Baird. 



ROCKY MOUNTAIN GEAY JAY. 



Sp. Char. (R1,084, Henry's Fork, Wyoming Teritory, F. V. Hayden.) Above fine 

 light blui.<;h- plumbeous, becoming much lighter on the anterior portion of the back; 

 tertials, secondaries, wing-coverts, primaries, and tail-feathers passing into whitish 

 terminally, on the latter forming quite broad and distinct tips. A nuchal patch of a 

 slightly darker tint than the back, and separated from it by the hoary whitish of the 

 anterior dorsal region. Whole of the head (except the nuchal patch), with the anterior 

 lower parts, as far as the breast, pure white ; rest of lower parts ashy-white, becoming 

 gradually more ashy posteriorly. Wing, 5.80; tail, 6.00 ; culmen, 1.00. Young (18,440, 



