30 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



obscurus) is found only in the coastal mountainous regions from prob- 

 ably northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, south to northwestern 

 California. The remainder of the range is occupied by the gray jay (P. 

 o. griseus). 



Since the above was w^ritten, the A. O. U. (1944) committee has ruled 

 that the two recognized races of obscurus are considered as subspecies 

 of P. canadensis. See Hellmayer, Cat. Birds Amer., vol. 7, p. 69. 



Egg dates. — Oregon: 4 records, March 31 to April 20. 



PERISOREUS CANADENSIS GRISEUS Ridgway 



GRAY JAY 



Plate 5 



HABITS 



Ridgway (1904) describes this jay as "similar to P. 0. obscurus, 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." He gives as its range "interior districts of 

 northern California (northern Sierra Nevada, upper Sacramento Valley, 

 Mount Shasta, etc.), north through central Oregon and Washington to 

 interior of British Columbia." 



The above range evidently includes the entire length of the Cascade 

 Mountains in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia and probably 

 both sides of these mountains. 



The gray jay had not been separated from the Oregon jay when 

 Major Bendire (1895) wrote his account of the latter. Apparently all 

 his personal observations refer to griseus. He first met with it on the 

 summit of the Blue Mountains, between Canyon City and Camp Harney, 

 Oreg., at an altitude of about 6,500 feet. This is well within the range 

 of griseus, being far to the eastward of the Cascades. Here, he says, 

 "they are found only on the highest portions of the mountains, which 

 attain an altitude of about 7,000 feet. I did not see any in the neighbor- 

 hood of Camp Harney." 



Nesting. — I can find no information on the nesting habits of the 

 gray jay except the following from Dawson and Bowles (1909) : 



The eggs of the Gray Jay have not yet been reported from this State [Wash- 

 ington!, but it is known that the bird builds a very substantial nest of twigs, 

 grasses, plant fibre, and mosses without mud, and that it provides a heavy lining 

 of soft gray mosses for the eggs. The nest is usually well concealed in a fir 

 tree, and may be placed at any height from ten or fifteen feet upward, altho 

 usually at sixty or eighty feet. Only one brood is reared in a season, and 

 family groups hunt together until late in the summer. 



