502 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.90 



morning by passing cars. Apparently the birds had gathered in 

 the sun on the bridge and on the approach to meet disaster in the 

 same manner as described above for the tree swallows. 



Family CORVIDAE 



CYANOCITTA CRISTATA CRISTATA (Linnaeus) : Florida Blue Jay 



Specimens of the blue jay were taken at the following localities: 

 4,500 feet elevation on Rocky Ridge, 13 miles west of Franklin, June 

 22; Catawba River, 7 miles west of Statesville, September 29 and 30; 

 7 miles southeast of Rockingham, May 31 ; near Reidsville, September 

 20 and 25; Roseboro, May 8; Bethel, November 1; and Southport, 

 May 11. 



This entire series of 15 skins is identified as the southern form, both 

 on size and color, so that apparently this is the breeding bird through- 

 out most of if not all the State. The wing in males taken ranges 

 from 123.6 to 130.7 mm. and in females from 126.9 to 129.1. The birds 

 seen are definitely dark in color above with restricted white markings 

 in the wings. One bird from Bethel and two from Reidsville have the 

 white more extensive and appear somewhat less purplish but are small 

 in size. They are considered to be intermediate. 



Examination of this and other material makes it apparent that 

 Oberholser ^^ is correct in extending the range of the southern form 

 of the blue jay to the north so far that it covers the type locality of 

 cristata. The bird currently called floTincola then becomes Cyanocitta 

 c. cristata^ while the northern race will be known as Cyanocitta c. 

 hromia Oberholser. 



The northern blue jay should come as a migrant to North Carolina, 

 though no specimens are at hand to substantiate this, but whether 

 the northern form nests in the State apparently is a matter still to be 

 established. It may occur in the higher mountains of the northwest. 

 In fact, Oberholser ,2^ in a review of the races of the blue jay cited 

 above, has listed as the northern form a specimen taken on July 11, 

 1895, on Roan Mountain. This specimen, in the National Museum, 

 is a young female only recently from the nest, with the juvenile 

 plumage only partly replaced by first fall dress. I am inclined to 

 believe that it might be more properly considered an intermediate, a 

 question, however, to be settled only by additional specimens. A jay 

 secured by Perrygo on September 23, 1937, on that part of Roan Moun- 

 tain found in Tennessee is definitely intermediate but seems nearer 

 to the southern form. Three collected by J. J. Murray at Blowing 

 Rock on August 7 and 18, 1937, which I have examined, are also young 

 birds in process of attaining fall plumage, and like Dr. Oberholser's 



-» Auk, 1921, pp. 83-89. 

 2' hoc. c\t., p. 88. 



