16 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



behind the eyes, which, together with the hind neck, are slate-gray; the 

 upper and under parts are paler gray. Young birds, in juvenal 

 plumage, are paler than the young of canadensis or fumifrons, the pileum 

 being much paler gray or grayish white and the feathers of the under 

 parts more or less tipped with white or pale grayish. Ridgway gave it 

 the appropriate name of "white-headed jay," and, on account of this 

 prominent character, it is locally called "baldhead," "tallowhead," or 

 "whitehead" ; it is also commonly known as the "camp robber," and 

 many of the popular names applied to our eastern bird are also used to 

 designate it. The name "jay" is usually used by the westerner for one 

 of the races of the Steller's jay. 



The Rocky Mountain jay is appropriately named, for it is confined 

 mainly to the boreal zones in the Rocky Mountain region from southern 

 Canada to Arizona and New Mexico. Its breeding range seems to be 

 limited to the heavily forested regions in the mountains, from the lower 

 limit of coniferous forests up to timberline, the altitude varying with the 

 latitude. Referring to its haunts in the Yellowstone National Park, 

 Wyo., M. P. Skinner (1921) says: "While I have frequently found 

 Rocky Mountain Jays in the smaller meadows and openings, still it is 

 apparent they like the forests best. Forests of lodgepole pine, limber 

 pine, fir, spruce, cedar, and even aspen groves and willow thickets con- 

 stitute their chosen haunts. Their nests are in the lodgepole pine belt 

 between the 7500 and 8000 foot levels." 



Aretas A. Saunders writes to me : "This bird is a common species all 

 through the mountainous parts of Montana. Though a resident, and 

 present throughout the year, it is much more in evidence from early in 

 August to late in February than from March to July. From about 

 August 5 on, these birds are likely to be encountered daily until late in 

 February. But through the spring and early summer a sight of one of 

 these birds is a rare thing. I find that I have records of their occurrence 

 in every month of the year, but the records are very few, as compared 

 to late summer and fall." 



Fred Mallery Packard writes to me of the status of this jay in Estes 

 Park, Colo. : "One of the commonest birds of the Canadian and Hud- 

 sonian forests in summer; usually found between 8,500 feet and timber- 

 line at 11.000 feet, but occasionally as high as 13,000 feet. In winter 

 most of these jays descend to the lower edge of the Canadian and Upper 

 Transition Zones (8,000 to 9,000 feet), some to Estes Park village at 

 7,500 feet, while a few winter as high as timberline." 



Referring to Colorado, Dr. Coues (1874) quotes Mr. Trippe as say- 

 ing: "I have never seen the Canada Jay below 9,000 feet, even in mid- 

 winter; and but rarely below 9,500 or 10,000. During the warmer 



