CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. 275 



Xest. — A loosely constructed mass of thorn brush lined with finer mate- 

 rials. Egg-'^ ■' greenish blue, heavily spotted with brown and lavender, 

 especially at larger end. 



480.2. Aphelocoma texana lildyiv. Texan Jay. 



Like ri/<tuotis, but white superciliary more distinct, under parts paler and 

 browner gray, lower throat and chest with obsolete grayish streaks instead 

 of blue streaks. 



Hemarks. — Texana differs from icoodhouseii in obsolete streakings of 

 chest, paler, browuer breast, and white under tail coverts. 



Distribution. — Southeastern Texas, from Concho and Kerr counties west 

 to the Davis Mountains. 



481. Aphelocoma calif ornica {Vig.). California Jay. 



Adults. — Upper parts blue except for brownish back and scapulars; 

 under parts white except for bluish streaking on throat and partial blue 

 and brownish necklace; white superciliary clearly defined; sides of head 

 blackish. Young : head only tinged with blue, nearly uniform with brown- 

 ish back ; throat white, unstreaked ; chest washed with brownish grav ; belly 

 whitish. Length : 1 l.:)()-lL\2r), wing 4.70-r).20, tail 5.45-0.10, bill .87-1.03. 



Bemarks. — Californica and woodhouseii are easily told apart, as cali- 

 fornica is whitish instead of brownish gray below, and brown instead of 

 gravisli on back. 



Distribution. — Pacific coast region from the Columbia River southward, 

 including both slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, to northern Lower 

 California. 



Xest. — Interlaced twigs, mixed sometimes with moss, stubble, and grass, 

 surrounding an inner nest of fine roots sometimes mixed with horsehair ; 

 placed usually in low bushes, but also in trees 8 to .'>0 feet from the ground, 

 generally not far from water. -E'</i'^' •' •' to 6, huffy or green, varying 

 greatly in shade, the huffy ones spotted and blotched with brown, the 

 green with markings generally scattered over the entire surface. 



Food. — Bird's eggs, insects, acorns, pine nuts, wild fruits, and berries; 

 also, about settlements, hens' eggs and grain. 



In coining down the Sierra Nevada you sonictinu'S find that the 

 range of the blue-fronted is overlapped by that of the California jay ; 

 but in the main you see the dark-crested frontalis sailing tlown 

 from the fir-tops, and hear the light-colo^j^'d, Hat-headed California 

 jays scpiacking through the digger pines utid chaparral of the low 

 country, where the valley cjuail has replaced the mountain quail. 

 'Blue squackers' the birds are called locally, and the name seems 

 most apjiropriate when the hot thick air over the oaks and chaparral 

 is vibrating with their cries. The Aphelocouui voice differs strikingly 

 from that o{ frontalis, having a flat tone and being uttered with un- 

 seemly haste. Its notes vary greatly in expres.si(m and are so em- 

 phatic and often peremptory that one cannot doubt that something 

 imjjortant is being said. A favorite cry. used ajiparently to rouse 

 attention, is a (piiek '' <pia!f-(iiia!i-(iiia!i-(iHay-(inayqitaif-<iuat/." An 

 other still more emphatic one is hoi/'-tv hoi/' -ee. while an intjuiring 

 (/i«n/ka/ is often heard. Somutimes when a jay Hies down to a 



