THE GRAY JAY. 41 



Ijeen found near Renton wliere tlieir presence during the l^reeding season would 

 otherwise liave gone unsuspected. Tiie depths of the forest have no terrors for 

 this quiet .ghost, and tliere are other reasons besides color w hy lie remains the 

 obscure one. 



No. 14. 



GRAY JAY. 



A. O. U. No. 485a. Ferisoreiis obsciinis griseiis Ridgw. 



Synonyms. — Camp Robbhk., etc. 



Description. — "Similar to P. 0. ohscunis, but decidedly larger (except feet), 

 and coloration much grayer ; back, etc., deep mouse gray, instead of brown, 

 remiges and tail between gray (No. 6) and smoke gray, instead of drab gray, 

 and under parts grayish white instead of brownish white." iRidgwavl. Length 

 ( Av. of tliree Glacier specimens) 11. 16 (283.5); '^ving 5.82 (147.6); tail 5.48 

 ( 139.1 ) ; bill .75 (19) ; tarsus 1.25 131.7). 



General Range. — Central mountain ranges of central California, Oregon, 

 Washington, and Britisli Columbia. 



Range in Washington. — Thruout the Cascade ^Mountains and irregularly 

 along their lower slopes west (?) to tidewater. 



Authorities. — ? P. canadensis Bonap., Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., \'ol. 

 IX, pt. II, 1858, p. 591 (Cascade .Mts. W. T. ). Ridgway, .-\iik, Vol. XVI., July, 

 1899, 225. Kk. ? 



THE "Camp-Robljer" appears promptly as interested neighbnr and 

 smell-feast before all who invade the precincts of the mountains. The hunter, 

 the trapper, the prospector, the timber cruiser, the mere camper-out. all know 

 him, and the}- speak well or ill r)f him according to their kind. The Gray Jay 

 appears to have forsworn the craftiness of his race, and he wins by an 

 exhibition of artless simplicity, rather than b_\- wiles. The bird is mildly 

 curious and hungry — oh, \"ery hungr}' — Init this is Arcadia, and the shepherds 

 draw nigh with never a doubt of their welcome. There js a childlike 

 insouciance about the wa\- in whicli the bird anne.KCS a piece of frizzled bacon, 

 humbly intended for the man. "'Shoo,' did you say? \\'hy, what do' you 

 mean? Can't I ha\-e it?" .And the bird retires before a flying chip, baffled 

 and injured by such a manifest tt.iken of ill-l)reeding. He complains mildly 

 to his fellows. They discuss the question in gentle 7^'hcii's: generously con- 

 clude you didn't mean it, and return unabashed to the quest. 



Hunger is the chief characteristic of these docile birds, and no ]5otentia] 

 food is refused, nuts, acorns, insects, l)erries, or even, as a last resort, the 

 buds of trees. Aleat of any sort has an especial attraction to them ; and they 

 are the despair of the trapper because of their propensity for stealing bait. 



