FAMILY CorvidcB 



nestful of other birds' eggs. The Oregon jay 

 is a long lean looking bird, with loose plumage 

 that looks unkempt at all seasons. It is a 

 somber bird of black and white and brownish 

 gray, with no suggestion of blue anywhere. 

 It is the little camp robber in hunters' par- 

 lance, a name earned by its boldness in 

 coming about the camp and stealing from 

 pot, kettle or table what it can carry away. 



The nest of the Oregon jay is usually 

 placed in a bushy fir well up from the ground 

 and is hard to find. It is bulky, of the usual 

 jay type, wide and flat, lined with moss and 

 rootlets. 



^ California jay, Aphelocoma cali- 

 fornica calif ornica. 11.75 



Distribution: Pacific Coast region from 

 the Columbia River south to Lower Cali- 

 fornia, and east to, and including, the Sierra 

 Nevada and Cascades. Rare in the north- 

 ern parts of its range. A few seen in the 

 Willamette valley north to Salem, and rarely 

 to the vicinity of Portland. 



The California jay, or blue squawker, 

 belongs to a genus including eight or ten 

 closely allied species of crestless jays that 

 strongly resemble each other in the field, but 

 which when examined in the hand are found 

 112 



