496 SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCIXES. 



C. s. annec'tens. (Lat. onnedens, annexini^.) Black-headed Jay. This name has been 

 given to specimens directly connecting stelleri and macrolopha. General tone of the former j 

 quite blackish, short-crested, with plain wing-coverts; but blue frontal streaks and whitish eye- 

 patch of the latter. N. Rocky Mts., U. S., W. to eastern Oregon and Washington, S. to the 

 Wahsatch range, N. to B. Col.; originally named by Baiid in 1874, but disallowed by the 

 A. O. U. Committee for some years before it was recognized as entitled to the place it had 

 continuously occupied in the 2d and 3d eds. of the Key. 



C. s. frontalis. (Lat. frontalis, pertaining to frons, the forehead.) Blue-froxted Jay. 

 Sierra Jay. An offset from stelleri; sooty color rather brownish than blackish ; blue of dif- 

 ferent shade on body from the deep indigo on wings and tail ; whole crest glossed with bluish, 

 and conspicuous blue streaks on forehead ; no whitish eye-patches ; wing-coverts obsoletely or 

 not barred. This form is best developed in the Sierras Nevadas of California, whence it extends 

 less typically in all directions, shading directly into the several other subspecies iu different 

 regions. 



C. s. macro'loplia. (Gr. fiaKpos, makros, long ; Xd^os, lophos, crest. Fig. 336.) LoNG- 

 CRESTED Jay'. Better marked than the connecting links; were these not forthcoming, it 

 would rank as a good species. ^ 9 • l^pper parts sooty uniber-hrown, with a faint blue tinge, 



blackening on head 

 and neck all around in 

 decided contrast, pass- 

 ing on rump and upper 

 tail-coverts into beau- 

 tiful light cobalt-blue, 

 on fore breast into the 

 same blue which oc- 

 cupies all the rest of 

 tlie under parts. Crest 

 black, but faced on 

 forehead with bluish- 

 white, which, when 

 the feathers are not 



Fio. 330. - Lo„g-crest.a .lay. „at. size. (Ad. nat. del. E. C.) disturbed, runS in tWO 



parallel lines from nostrils upward — these colored tips of the feathers of firmer texture than 

 their basal portions. One or both eyelids patched with white. Chin abruptly whitish, streaky. 

 Exposed surfaces of wings rich indigo-blue, most intense on inner secondaries, which, with 

 greater coverts, are regularly and firmly barred across both webs with black ; outer webs of 

 primaries lighter blue, more like that of rump or under parts. Upper surface of tail rich in- 

 digo, like the secondaries, and similarly black-barred; these bands most distinct towards the 

 ends and on outer webs of the feathers; tail viewed from below appearing mostly blackish. 

 Iris dark. Bill and feet black. Length 12.00-13.00; extent 17.00-19.00; wing 5.50-6.50; 

 tail the same: bill 1.12; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and claw 1.33. Sexes quite alike, but 9 at 

 the lesser dimensions given. Crest longer than in northern stelleri, sometimes 3.00. Young : 

 Much more sooty ; below entirely fuliginous, with the future blue indicated by an ashy or gray- 

 ish shade. Wings and tail nearly as bright blue as in the adult, but black bars faint or want- 

 ing. Crest shorter, not quite black, not faced with blue, and no white about eyes. Rocky Mt. 

 region, U. S., especially southerly; N. to Wyoming, where grading into annectens ; W. to 

 Utah, where melting into frontalis; S. into Mexico, where intergrading with the bluer diade- 

 mata, which latter in its turn is directly connected with the quite blue coronata. The Long- 

 crested Jay is a common resident of the pine belt, disjilayiug in marked degree the notorious 

 attributes of its genus, or genius. Nest iu trees and bushes, usually concealed witli art, though 



