106 Wyoming Experiment Station. 



j/8 c. Cyanocitta stelleri annectens (Baird.). 

 Black-headed Jay. 



Resident and rather common in regions with pine-clad 

 hills and mountains. All of the early records of this species 

 have heen placed under the Long-crested Jay; but since this 

 bird has been restricted to the southern Rocky mountain re- 

 gion all of these records have been transferred conditionally 

 to this species. It is quite possible that the Long-crested Jay 

 may now and then stray as far north as Wyoming. Hayden 

 took specimens of this species at Laramie peak in 1857 ; Coues 

 refers to several specimens that have been takn in this state ; 

 but calls them the Long-crested Jay ; Bond has taken a number 

 of specimens at Cheyenne ; Allen records them from the Med- 

 icine Bow mountains ; Grinnell records them from Yellow- 

 stone park in 1875 ; Aiken found them at Sherman. There are 

 two skins in the University collection. Concerning the food 

 of the Jay, Coues has the following interesting note (Birds 

 of the Northwest, pp. 217-18) : 



"The Long-crested Jay will eat anything eatable. It is 

 said Jays kill and devour small birds, and doubtless they do so 

 on occasion, though I do not think it is habitual with them. 

 Thev suck eggs, despoiling many a pretty nest ; and if they 

 cannot catch winged insects, fat larvae and beetles do not come 

 amiss; but after all, they are principally vegetarians, feeding 

 mainly upon seeds, hard fruits, and berries. In the mountains 

 where the Long-crested Jay lives, pine-seeds afford most of its 

 fare. I have often watched the bird hammering away at a 

 pine-cone, which he would sometimes wedge in a crotch, and 

 sometimes hold under his feet. Though most at home in the 

 pineries, where this particular source of supply is unfailing, 

 he often strays into the adjoining oak openings, and into juni- 

 per patches, after acorns or berries, or to pick a quarrel with 

 Woodhouse's Jay and frighten the Sparrows." 



