36 THE GRINNELL JAY. 



the \-icinity uf their nest until they are certain of its fliscover\", in w hicli case 

 they call heaven and earth to witness tliat the man is a monster of iniquity, and 

 that he is plotting against the innocent. 



In our experience, Steller's Jay is not, as has Ijeen sometimes reported, a 

 bird of the mountains. To be sure, it may be found in tlie mountain T'olleys. 

 but if so it is practically confined to them. The bird, is, however, ubiquitous 

 thruout the lii\\l\'ing countries of Puget Sound, Gray's Harbor, and adjacent 

 regions, giving way on!}- upon the south to the dubious Grinnell Jay (S. s. 

 cavbonacca). 



No. 10. 

 GRINNELL'S JAY. 



A. f). U. No. 478e. Cyanocitta stelleri carbonacea J. Grinnull. 



Synonyms. — "Blue Jay." Coast Jay (A. O. U.). 



Description. — "Similar to C. s. stelleri, but paler thruout, and averaging 

 slightly smaller ; color of head very nearly as in C. s. stelleri, but averaging 

 browner or more sooty, the forehead always conspicuously streaked with blue, 

 and throat more extensively or uniformly pale grayish; back and foreneck much 

 paler, slaty brown or brownish slate, instead of deep sooty ; blue of rump, upper 

 tail-coverts, and under parts of body ligiit dull cerulean or verditer blue, advanc- 

 ing more over chest, where more abruptly defined against the sooty or brownish 

 slate color of foreneck" ( liidgway). .'Xdult males: wing 6.IO (150.5) : tail 3.51 

 (140) ; bill 1. 15 (29.1) : tarsus 1.75 (44.5). 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from Monterey county, California, 

 north to Columl)ia I^iver. 



Range in Washington. — Idas only theoretical status in State, but specunens 

 taken along north banks of Columbia would appear to belong here. 



Authorities. — ? Corz'iis stelleri, Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. and Can. I. 1832, 

 229 ("Columbia River"). ? Orn. Com. Journ. Ac, Nat, Sci. Phila. VII. 1837, 193. 

 C. s. frontalis, R. H. Lawrence, Auk XVII. Oct. 1892, p. 355 (Gray's Harbor). 

 C. s. earbonacea Grinnell, Ridgvvay, Birds of No. and Mid. Am. Vol. III. p. 354 

 (footnote). L. Kb. 



ORNITHOLOGY is the furthest refined of the systematic sciences. So 

 zealous have been her devotees and so- sagacious her high priests, that no shade 

 of difiference in size, form or hue of a bird is allowed to pass unnoticed, or its 

 owner unnamed. It is unquestionably annoying to the novice to be confronted 

 with such subtleties, and the recognition of subspecies in the vernacular names 

 of our birds is of doubtful wisdom ; but the fashion is set and we will all lie 

 foolish together — so that none may laugh. 



The normal range of Grinnell's Jay, as defined, extends northward to the 



