214 CYANURUS CRISTATUS, BLUE JAY 



The Ma.Gl)ie is not a sliy bird, but if frequently sliot at soon learns to 

 keep out of range. Among the foot-hills, tlie jMagi)ie begins build- 

 ing in April ; the nest is quite an elaborate affair, and occu[)ies several 

 days in its construction. It is placed in the fork of u small, bushy tree — 

 Avhich is never a pine — from six to fifteen feet from the ground, and 

 composed externally of stout sticks, ingeniously placed and wedged to- 

 gether. Upon this is a layer of snuUler twigs, and then a layer of fine 

 chiy one-half or three-quarters of an inch in thickness, which, being ap- 

 plied soft and well worked in, becomes very hard, and binds the whole 

 structure firmly together. On this again is a soft lining of fine twigs, 

 hair, feathers, and any proper nuiterial which they can find. Over the 

 whole, rising from the walls of the nest, is a dome of twigs and sticks, 

 A'ery ingeniously and securely woven together, and framing a shelter for 

 the bird while setting. There are two openings, opposite each other, 

 evidently to make room for the long tail of the bird, which could never 

 be brought within the nest. The eggs are five, of a pale greenish, very 

 thickly obscured with spots and dasiics of pale purplish-brown, varying 

 somewhat in intensity and being somewhat thicker at the larger end. In 

 the foot-hills, the young are hatched about the first of June, at Idaho 

 Springs nearly three weeks later, or not for two months after the ap- 

 l)earance of the broods of Picicorvus columbiauus — a singular fact, con- 

 sidering the intimate relations of the two birds, and their similar habits, ' 

 range and food." 



CYANURUS CKISTATUS, (Linn.) Sw. 



Blme Jay, 



Corrus crhiatus, Lixx., i, 1766, 157.— Gm., i, 1788, .369.— Wils., Am. Orn. i, 1808, 11, pi. 1, 

 fig. 1.— Dou<inTY, Cab. 1832, 62, pi. 6.— Bp., Syii. 1S28, 58.— Nutt., Man. i, 18.32, 

 224.— AUD., Orn. Bio|--. ii, 1834, 11; v, 18:i9, 475; pi. 102. 



Gan-uUis cristatns, ViKiix., Eucy. Metb. 890 ; Gal. Ois. 160, pi. 102; Diet. 1817, 477.— Sw. 

 & Rich., F. B. A. ii, 1831, 293.— Auix, B. Am. iv, 110, pi. 231.— Gik., B. L. 1, 1844, 

 153 —Maxim., J. f. O, 1858, 192.— Tkippe, Pr. Ess. lust, vi, 1871, 177 (Miuuesota, 

 resident). 



Pica cvisMa. Wagl., Syst. Av., 1827, Pica No. 8. 



Cijaiiuriis crifitatiis, Sw.', F. B. A. ii, 1831, 495.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, .580; and of most late 

 writers.- DitEss., Ibis, 1865, 494 (Texas).— McIlwi!., Pr. Ess. Inst, v, 1868, 90 

 (Canada ^Vest, resident). — Al'lex, Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 178 (Kansas). — Snow, 

 B. Kans. 1873, 8.— CouES, Key, 1872, 165.— B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 273, pi. 42, «<>. 3. 



Cyauocorax cri.'datiiii, BoiE. — Bp., List, 1838, 27. — Woodh., Sitgr. Rep. 1853, 77 (Indiau 

 Territory). 



('i/anocitta cristaia, SrniCKL., Ann. Mag. 1845, 261.— Cap., Muh. Hein. i, 1851, 221. 



Ciia)ioi/((rntlii.v ctifitatitH, Bp., Consp.«Av. i, 1850, 376. 



Hub. — Eastern North America. North to the Fur Countries (to 56°, Pichardson). 

 West to Kansas, Eastern Nebraska, and Dakota. Common on the Red River. Breeds 

 tliionghoiit its range. Resident throughout its United States range. 



This abundant and familiar species of the Eastern States was unno- 

 ticed by either Expedition, and although Audubon states that it "pro- 

 ceeds uj) the JMissouri liiver to the eastern declivities of the liocky 

 Mountains," it does not appear to have been of late observed further 

 west thau as above indicated. 



CYANURUS STELLERI var. IMACROLOPHUS, (Bd.) Allen. 



long-crested Jay. 



a. siellcri. 



Corru!^ stcUcri, Gm., i, 1788, 370.— Lath., Ind. i, 1790, 158.— Pall., Zoog. i, 393.— Bp., 

 Zool. .Journ. iii, 18-^7, 49; Syii. 1828, 433: Am. Orn. ii, 182><, 44. \)\. 13, fig. 1.— 

 NUTT., Man. i, 1832, 229.— Ald., Oru. Biog., iv, 1838, 453, pi. 362, fig. 2. 



