BLUE OR METALLIC BLUE 489 



soon as thej are fully fledged, they seldom learn to hunt 

 their food until taught patiently and slowly by their cap- 

 tors ; and they never acquire the caution necessary for 

 their self-preservation in a wild life. 



478 a. BLUE-FRONTED J AY . — O/anociita stelleri 

 frontalis. 



Family : The Crows, Jays, Magpies, etc. 



Length: 11.75-13.00. 



Adults: Plead, neck, and back brownish slate; crest blue; forehead 

 streaked with blue ; wings and tail dark blue, and barred ; rump and 

 under jiarts dull tunjuoise. 



Geographical Distribution : Both slopes of the Sierra Nevada, from Fort 

 Crook south to Lower California. Westward to the interior valleys 

 in winter. 



California Breeding Range: Southern coast ranges and Sierra Nevada 

 from Mt. Shasta to Lower California. 



Breeding Season: April 20 to July 10. 



Nest: Usually in a fir tree, from 6 to 50 feet above the ground, some- 

 times placed in natural cavities of trees and shrubs ; made loosely of 

 sticks or stems of weeils ; lined with fine roots and grasses. 



Eggs: 3 to 5 ; like those of the Steller jay. 



The Blue-fronted Jay constitutes one of the subdivis- 

 ions of the Steller jay. Along the Sierra Nevada from 

 Mount Shasta south it breeds more or less abundantly, 

 wandering irregularly to the coast in the winter. In 

 general habits it is like the coast jay, and the description 

 of nesting habits will be found under that species. In 

 some localities, however, it is found nesting in cavities 

 in trees. At Julian, (^difornia, Uoh^nel (Joss obtjuned a 

 nund)er of nests from iiollow trees at a distance from 

 the ground of four to fifty feet. It :dso builds in snow- 

 sheds of the Canadian Pacific Ilaihoad in tlie Sierra 



