CALIFORNIA JAY 93 



Swarth (1918) says that californica, as compared with imntanis (now 

 superciliosa) , the interior form, "is of small size and dark coloration. 

 The blue areas are of a deeper shade, the back distinctly darker brown, 

 and the light colored under parts have a dusky suffusion. Lower tail 

 coverts usually tinged with blue, sometimes conspicuously so. Colora- 

 tion is about the same in californica as in oocleptica [the northern 

 coast form], from which subspecies californica is distinguished by 

 smaller size throughout." The other two races are larger than californica, 

 and both about the same size, but oocleptica is dark colored and 

 superciliosa is much paler. 



The habitats of the three races and their general habits are all very 

 similar. One life history might well do for all three. They all live mainly 

 in the Upper Sonoran Zone, with some extension of range into the Lower 

 Sonoran and Transition Zones. Their favorite haunts are the oak and 

 brush-covered foothills of the mountains, the brush-covered sides of the 

 canyons, the oak and digger-pine chaparral, thickets of Ceanothus and 

 poison-oak bushes, and among the small trees and shrubbery along 

 watercourses. In such places, where there is ample concealment among 

 the thick foliage, this handsome, flat-headed, mischievous villain is quite 

 sure to be found ; if not immediately in evidence, the well-known squeak- 

 ing sound, such as one uses to call small birds, will bring all the jays 

 within hearing of it. 



Nesting. — Major Bendire (1895) writes: 



The nests are usually found on brush-covered hillsides or in creek bottoms, 

 placed in low bushes and thickets, such as blackberry, poison oak, wild goose- 

 berry, currant, hazel, hawthorn, and scrub-oak bushes, or in osage-orange hedges ; 

 occasionally in a small pinon pine or a bushy young fir, and quite frequently on a 

 horizontal limb of an oak, varying in height from 3 to 30 feet from the ground- 

 In the majority of cases the nests are located near water, but sometimes one may 

 be found fully a mile distant. Externally they are composed of a platform of 

 interlaced twigs, mixed occasionally with moss, wheat stubble, and dry grass ; on 

 this the nest proper is placed, which consists of a lining of fine roots, sometimes 

 mixed wih horsehair. No mud enters into the composition of their nests. One 

 now before me * * * measures 9 inches in outer diameter by 3^ inches in height; 

 the inner cup is 4 inches in diameter by 2 inches deep. Outwardly it is composed 

 of small twigs of sagebrush, and the lining consists entirely of fine roots ; it is 

 compactly built and well constructed. The nests are usually well concealed, and 

 the birds are close sitters, sometimes remaining on the r.ests until almost touched. 



In addition to the trees and shrubs mentioned above, nests of the 

 California jay have been found in live oaks, elders, willows, apple 

 trees, pear trees, junipers, cypresses, and honeysuckles. W. L. Dawson 

 (19.23) says: 



Taking the country over, nests built in oak trees probably outnumber all others 

 combined, yet the component members of the chaparral, ceanothus, chamissal, and 



