CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. 



277 



GENUS XANTHOURA. 



483. Xanthoura luxuosa glaucescens Bidgw. Green Jay. 



Adults. — Throat and sides of head jet black, in sharp contrast to pale 

 g-reen or yellowish green of under parts ; top of head and lualar streak 

 bluish purple, with touch of white on forehead ; rest of upper parts bluish 

 g-reen, usually extensively tinged with pale blue ; tail with middle feathers 

 bluish green, outer feathers pale yellow. Young : similar, but duller, head 

 greenish blue instead of purple ; upper parts apple green without bluish 

 tinge ; under parts buffy, faintly tinged with green. Length: 11-12, wing 

 4.40-4.80, tail 5.10-5.80. 



Distribution. — From Valley of the Lower Rio Grande in Texas south to 

 Vera Cruz and Puebla. 



Nest. — Concealed in thickets, made of thorny twigs sparingly lined with 

 rootlets, moss, grass, and hair. Eggs : usually 4, grayish, greenish, or 

 bulfy, marked with lilac and brown, massed around the larger end. 



GENUS PERISOREUS. 



General Characters. — Head not crested ; plumage soft, full, and loose ; 

 bill short and wide at base, nostrils exposed ; wings and tail about equal, 

 tail graduated. 



KEY TO SPECIES. 



1. Whole top of head white capitalis, p. 277. 



r. Top of head black except for white forehead. 



2. Back brownish obsciirus. p. 278. 



2'. Back gray. East of Coast and Cascade ranges . . griseus, p. 279. 



Rocky Mou>- 



on back of neck 



est 



484a. Perisoreus canadensis eapitalis Bidgw. 

 TAIN Jay. 



Adidts. — Top of head white shading to dark gra 

 of upper parts light slate 

 gray ; tail tipped with white : 

 throat whitish ; rest of under 

 parts brownish gray. Young : 

 top of head dull white, tinged 

 with gravish brown. Lejiqlfi : 

 11.2.5-i;5"00, wing 5.00-0.:;(). 

 tail 5.SO-(;.:;5. bill .07-1. OS. 



Distribution. — From Brit- 

 ish America .south to Arizona 

 and New Mexico in tlic 

 liocky Mountain regions. 



X&st. — As described b\ 

 Dr. Brewer, of pine twigs 

 holding a compactly woven 

 inner nest of stems, plant 

 fibers, feathers, bark, and down, placed on the hori/outal Kiandi of a 

 pine 40 feet from the ground, containing ;I eggs, grayish white blotclunl 

 with jmrplish brown, in two, only around the larger end, in one, over the 

 entire ('ko;. 



Food, — Meat, insects, acorns, and whatever offers. 



The Rocky Mountain jay, like the other species of the Perisoreus 

 genus, is notorioihsly a camp bird. .\s it lives all the year in the deep 



