80 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



a site because of the sameness of the scrub, but the myrtle {Myrica 

 cerifera), sand pine (Pinus clausa), and various oaks (Quercus) are the 

 shrubs and trees most used. S. A. Grimes (MS.) states that the wild 

 olive (Osmanthiis) "seems to be the favorite site, for it affords the 

 best cover. It is a thick-branched and densely foliaged plant when the 

 dune vegetation is in the 'scrub-jay stage'." 



Tlie seasonal range of nesting is extensive, a characteristic, of many 

 of the Florida forms, and this jay may be found any time between late 

 March and late May, with eggs. Strange discrepancies in dates may be 

 noted in the same locality, fresh eggs being possible in a nearly 2 months' 

 range of time. 



Both parents are assiduous in all domestic duties. Grimes (MS.), 

 who has paid much attention to the scrub jay, writes that "both gather 

 nest material and work it into the nest ; both incubate ; both brood ; both 

 feed and attend the young in and out of the nest. I have seen the adults 

 swallow the cloacal sacs of the nestlings and at other times carry them 

 away and drop them. The female probably does the greater part of 

 the incubating, but the male sees to it that she does not want for food 

 wliile she is so engaged." 



Incubation occupies a little more than 2 weeks, 15 to 17 days. Again 

 quoting from Grimes' notes: "One nest that I kept under observation 

 was in use 45 days, including the ten it was under construction. The 

 last tgg in this set of five was laid on April 1, and the three eggs that 

 hatched did so in the night of April 16-17. The young left the nest on 

 May 5." 



One interesting fact noted by Grimes in the northern limit of the 

 range (Duval County) is that there is always a percentage of unhatched 

 eggs. "In fact," he writes, "I have never known all the eggs to hatch 

 in a set of scrub jay. If that condition is general, it must indicate some 

 form of decadence in the species. Perhaps it is a normal condition at 

 a border extremity of range, due to inbreeding." 



In his comments on the recession of this jay's range from its former 

 northern limit about Jacksonville in the past few years. Grimes has 

 noted another unusual condition. "When the Florida jays," he says, 

 "were down to the last five or six individuals here, for two successive 

 seasons I found three birds attending one nest. Two were males. Even 

 so, in the nest that I followed up, only two eggs out of four hatched." 



Though evincing tameness to a degree at times, under almost any 

 conditions, the Florida jay is particularly indifferent to human beings 

 about its nest. Its behavior under these circumstanc.es is often remarkable. 

 When investigating a nesting coerulescens, one is reminded strongly of 

 the primitive unconcern displayed by the noddy (Anous stolidus) on 



