76 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



small tree, he leaves it trembling with the force of his push-off. Even 

 during the noonday siesta, when I have seen the jays resting like balls 

 of blue in the branches on all sides, the head is never still; there is no 

 hint of sleepiness." 



ky inter. — Mr. Packard tells me that, in Estes Park, Colo., these jays 

 spend the winter from the upper Transition Zone (9,000 feet) to as low 

 as 5,000 feet. "During the winter these birds frequent the feeding 

 stations and cabins of Estes Park village, where they obtain food to 

 supplement their forage. They do not associate as closely with man as 

 do the camp robbers, but can be induced to feed from a person's hand." 



At Cragmore, near Colorado Springs, at an elevation of 6,300 feet, in 

 January, Mr. Abbott (1929) found the long-crested jay "to be the 

 tamest and most abundant bird inhabitant of the open, landscaped 

 grounds of this institution. I have learned that these beautiful jays 

 may commonly be seen in the parks of Colorado's high-lying cities. * * ♦ 

 At Cragmore, they make themselves so thoroughly at home that they pay 

 practically no attention to the passing motor-car or pedestrian, and 

 settle as readily on buildings or electric wires as on the branches of 

 trees. ♦ ♦ * 



"Even when water is available, the Long-crested Jays seem to prefer 

 to drink snow. I have seen one perch on a branch covered with soft 

 snow and literally 'guzzle' the snow beside him, billful after billful. On 

 the ground, too, I have watched them gobble far more fresh- fallen snow 

 that [sic] seemed to be necessary. After thaws, when the snow remains 

 only in frozen patches in sheltered spots, it is a dififerent story. I have 

 observed a jay at the edge of such a patch hammer away with all the 

 energy of a woodpecker, raising his whole body with each stroke, in 

 order to add strength to his efforts, and thus break off icy fragments, 

 which he eagerly swallowed." 



CYANOCITTA STELLERI PERCONXATRIX van Rossem 



NEVADA CRESTED JAY 



A. J. van Rossem (1931) obtained four specimens of crested jays in 

 southern Nevada, three from the Charlestons and one from Sheep Moun- 

 tain, to which he gave the above scientific name and which he describes 

 as "similar in head markings and in general body coloration to Arizona, 

 New Mexico, and Colorado specimens of Cyanocitta stelleri diademata 

 (Bonaparte), that is with the supra-orbital region extensively white, the 

 lower eyelid narrowly white and frontal streaks white or bluish white, 

 but differing from that form in having the back and sides of neck 'deep 

 neutral gray' (color terms in quotations from Ridgway, Color Standards 

 and Color Nomenclature, 1912) instead of 'mouse gray.' Differs from 



