GREEN JAY 129 



As I sat on a log near tlie edge of a stream in a dense forest along 

 one of the resacas near Brownsville, 1 caught my first glimpse of a 

 green jay, a flash of green, yellow, and blue, as it flitted through the 

 thick underbrush and the trees above me. In spite of its brilliant colors 

 it was surprisingly inconspicuous among the lights and shades of the 

 thick foliage. 1 had just been admiring the dainty little Texas king- 

 fisher that flew down the stream and perched on a fallen snag, had 

 been lulled almost to sleep by the constant cooing of the many white- 

 winged doves, and awakened again by the loud calls of the gaudy Derby 

 flycatcher. The curious chachalaca and the red-billed pigeon had their 

 nests in the vicinity, and there were a host of other interesting birds all 

 about me, but the green jay was the gem of the forest. 



I am wondering how much longer this bird paradise will last, for I 

 have read that huge tractors have been uprooting the forest trees, 

 clearing up the chaparral, and plowing up the rich land to make room 

 for the rapidly growing citrus orchards and other expanding agricul- 

 tural interests. Thus will soon disappear the only chance we have of 

 preserving on United States soil this unique fauna and flora; and all 

 these interesting birds will have to retreat across the Mexican border, 

 leaving our fauna that much poorer. 



According to Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway (1874), "Colonel George 

 A. McCall, Inspector-General of the United States Army, was the first 

 person to collect these birds within our limits. He obtained them in 

 the forests that border the Rio Grande on the southeastern frontier of 

 Texas. There he found them all mated in the month of May, and he 

 felt no doubt that they had their nests in the extensive and almost im- 

 penetrable thickets of mimosa, commonly called chaparral." 



We learn more about it from the writings a number of years later of 

 Dr. James C. Merrill (1876 and 1878) and George B. Sennett (1878 

 and 1879). The latter writes (1878): "It was first met with on April 

 2nd, in the vicinity of Brownsville; but it was not until we reached 

 the heavier timber about Hidalgo that we saw it in full force. They 

 were there April 17th in pairs, and busy constructing homes. They 

 are most frequently seen during the breeding season in the densest 

 woods and thickets, but at other times I am told they are common visi- 

 tors of the camp, the ranche, and the huts in the outskirts of towns, 

 to the annoyance of all on account of their thieving propensities." 



The subspecies glaucescens is smaller and its coloration is paler and 

 duller than in the other four races of the species found in Mexico and 

 Central America. Its range extends from the lower Rio Grande Val- 

 ley southward into northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. 



Nesting. — Most of the information we have on the nesting of the 



