ARIZONA JAY 123 



Noisy, fussy and quarrelsome as all the jays are, I know of no other species 

 which possesses to such an eminent degree the quality of prying into all manner 

 of things which do not concern it, and of making such a nuisance of itself in 

 general, on the slightest provocation or on none at all, as the Arizona Jay 

 does. * * * A Red-tail or Swainson Hawk sitting on some limb, furnishes a 

 little excitement until he removes to some quieter locality; but the crowning joy 

 of all is to find some wretched fox or wild cat quietly ensconced on some broad, 

 sheltered, oak limb. In such a case the one that finds the unhappy victim takes 

 oare to let every jay within half a mile know from his outcry that there is some 

 excitement on hand ; and it is nothing unusual to see thirty or forty birds gathered 

 about the object of their aversion, letting him know in no undecided terms just 

 what their opinion of him is. It is a curious sight also to see a dozen or more 

 gathered around some large snake, which they seem to fear nearly as much as 

 they hate. On one occasion I had an excellent opportunity of watching about 

 twenty Arizona Jays protesting at the presence of rather a large rattlesnake which 

 was leisurely travelling down a dry watercourse which passed our camp. The 

 jays seemed imbued with a wholesome fear of their wicked looking antagonist, 

 and though they surrounded it, kept at respectful distance; they were not as noisy 

 as they often are, but kept uttering low querulous cries, quite different from their 

 usual outbursts. Some of the boldest lit a short distance from the snake and 

 strutted before it in a most curious fashion, head and body held bolt upright, and 

 the tail pressed down on the ground until about a third of it was dragging. * * ♦ 

 Besides his vocal outbursts, the Arizona Jay makes when flying a curious flutter- 

 ing noise with his wings, loud and distinct enough to be heard some little dis- 

 tance producing a curious effect; especially when, as often happens, a troop of 

 them comes swooping down some steep hill side to the bottom of the canyon. 

 Though wary and cunning to a marked degree, so that it is usually impossible 

 to get within gun shot of them, still their curiosity leads to their destruction; for 

 it is a simple matter for the collector, by hiding behind a bush and making any 

 squeaking or hissing noise, to get all the specimens desired. 



Bendire (1895) says: "Their flight appears to me far less laborious 

 than that of the California Jay. It reminds me of that of some of our 

 Raptores, rising now high in the air, partly closing their wings, and 

 then darting suddenly down, then up again, and repeating these move- 

 ments for some time." 



Voice. — Herbert Brandt (1940) records the call of the Arizona jay 

 as "a rather rasping, nasal 'wait-wait-wait', given as rapidly, and in such 

 a key, as the occasion may warrant." My own brief field notes record 

 a loud and incessant alarm note sounding like wack, ivack, zvack; I have 

 also heard a soft, cooing note, like coot, coot, coot, in a conversational 

 tone. Dr. Taylor writes to me that "one conspicuous call-note is a 

 weent! zveenk! weenk!, with rising inflection." 



Field marks. — Within its limited range in the United States, there is 

 no other bird with which this bird is likely to be confused. It is a large 

 jay, much larger than its neighbor, Woodhouse's jay. It has a dull- 

 blue head, bluish-gray or dull-blue back, wings, and tail, and bluish-gray 

 or dull-gray under parts. 



