semple's blue jay 55 



a very destructive bird to other small birds' nests in this area ; many 

 times have I seen the blue jay in the act of destroying cardinal, mourn- 

 ing dove, mockingbird, and Maryland yellowthroat nests. My notes 

 give an instance of the determined and persevering v/ay these birds 

 have when bent upon the destruction of another species' nest. On May 

 5, 1928, a blue jay was caught in the act of robbing a cardinal's nest 

 located in a crape-myrtle bush in my front yard. He v,as sitting on 

 the nest with one egg in his bill v/hen first noticed. I secured a 22 rifle 

 and shot very close to the jay ; he flew away with the egg, yet returned 

 in a short while for another ; and three shots were made as close as 

 possible to the bird, with no intention of hitting it, before it would leave 

 the nest locality. After a short interval it returned again and five shots 

 were made, each shot hitting very close to the bird, yet it hopped to the 

 cardinal's nest and secured another egg. The next shot made it leave, 

 but it carried the second egg along, as with the first. I awaited his 

 return, fired one shot which failed to make him fly away, so I pro- 

 ceeded to kill the bird with the next shot. The cardinals, both, pro- 

 duced only mild scolds toward the jay and failed at any time to put up 

 a fight. The nest was left with the two eggs remaining, but the car- 

 dinals quit the nest after the following day." 



CYANOCITTA CRISTATA SEMPLEI Todd 

 SEMPLE'S BLUE JAY 



My friend John B. Semple collected some blue jays in southern Florida 

 and sent them to the Carnegie Museum. Based on this material from 

 extreme southern Florida, some 11 specimens, W. E. Clyde Todd (1928) 

 described this bird as a new subspecies and named it in honor of Mr. 

 Semple, who collected the type near Coconut Grove. He characterizes 

 it as "similar to Cyanocitfa cjistata cristata (Linnaeus) of the South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, but general coloration paler, the under parts 

 white, with less grayish suffusion, the lower throat with less bluish 

 Avash, and the upper parts paler and duller blue, with less purplish 

 tone." He continues: 



This new form is as much different from C. c. cristata as the latter is from 

 the northern race C. c. hromxa. Its pale coloration stands out well as the two 

 series lie side by side. While occasional specimens from peninsular Florida 

 (north of the Everglades) approximate in their pallor the characters above 

 specified, it is only in the extreme southern part of the State that these char- 

 acters become sufficiently constant and pronounced to justify giving a name to 

 individuals showing them. * * * 



In the average example of cristata the upper parts are "deep dull bluish violet 

 No. 2" of Ridgway (as seen with the eye between the bird and the light), while 

 the pileum is brighter, between "grayish blue violet No. 2" and "dull bluish 



