CORVID^E—GARRULIN.E: JAYS AND PIES. 497 



bulky; eggs 3-6, usually 4 or 5, fn.in 1.10 to 1.30 X 0.85 to 0.95, averaging 1.20 X 0.87, 

 pale bluish-greeu, profusely spotted and blotched with dark olive-brown and lighter brown 

 surface markings, with the usual neutral-tint shell-spots, commonly called ''lavender" or 

 "lilac"; the pigmentation being pretty evenly distributed, with little tendency to aggregation 

 about the large end of the egg. They are mostly laid in May, but the season runs from April 

 to June. 



APHELO'COMA. (Gr. d({)(\T]s, aphdes, smooth, sleek; ko/xj;, kome, liair: alluding to the 

 lack of cre:st.) Crkstless Blue Jays. Generally as in Cyanocitta. Head uncrested. Tail 

 longer or shorter than wings, instead of about equal, graduated (in some extralimital forms 

 about equal to wing and even). Tarsus rather longer than middle toe and claw. Wings and 

 tail blue, without black bars, aud blue the chief body-color ; whitish underneath, with (usually) 

 <ir without a gray patch on the back. All southern and western. Several species abound ia 

 tliose portions of the U. S. and in Mexico, where they are as characteristic of thickets of 

 scrub-oak and other low deciduous trees as the western forms of Cyanocitta are of the pine- 

 ries. The nest is placed in such trees and bushes, and is rather a saucer than a cup. being a 

 less substantial structure than usual in this group ; the eggs are particoUu'ed in Aphelocoma, 

 but whole-colored in the subgenus Sieherocitfa, which I now base upon our representative of 

 Sieber's Jay. 



Analysis of Species, Subgenera, and Subspecies. 



Tail longer than wings, graduated. Blue above, with gray dorsal area ; belly white or whitish ; usually a superciliary 

 stripe, aud streaks ou the throat. Eggs spotted. (Aphelocoma proper.) 

 Crissum blue or bluisli, more or less contrasted with white or whitish belly. 

 Continental species. 

 Forehead hoary white ; superciliary stripe ill-defined ; dorsal area well-defined ; crissum blue, contrasting with 



grayish belly cyanea 



Forehead blue ; superciliary stripe distinct ; dorsal area ill-defined, spreading and bluish ; crissum bluish, but not 



well contrasted with dingy whitish belly. Southern Rocky Mts uoodhousei 



Insular species, resembling the last. Santa Cruz Isl insular is 



Crissum white or whitish, like the belly. 



Sides of liead not decidedly blue, but rather blackish. 

 Forehead blue ; superciliary stripe distinct ; dorsal area well defined. 



Larger, medium colored. California, Oregon, Nevada cali/ornica 



Smaller, lighter colored. Lower California c. hypoleuca 



Larger, darker colored. San Pedro Mts., Lower CaUfornia c. obscura 



Sides of head decidedly blue, like the crown. 



Forehead blue ; superciliary stripe indistinct or obsolete. Mexico and W Texas cyanotis 



Tail shorter than wings, rounded. Blue above, without definite dorsal area ; no superciliary stripe or streaks on the 

 throat. Eggs plain. (Subgenus Siebeuocitta. ) sieberi ari:once 



A. cya'nea. (Gr. Kvavtos, kuaneos, Lat. cyaneus, blue.) Florida Jay. Scrub Jay. 

 Adult ^ 9 : Blue ; back with a small well-defined gray patch not invading scapulars ; ])clly 

 and sides pale grayish ; under tail-coverts and tibise blue in marked contrast ; much hoary 

 whitish on forehead and sides of crown, but no sharp white superciliary stripe; chin, throat, 

 and middle of breast vague streaky whitish and bluish ; ear-coverts dusky ; the blue that 

 .seems to encircle head and neck well defined against the gray of back and breast. Bill com- 

 paratively short, very stout at base. I..ength 11.00-12.50, average 11.75; extent 13.50-15.00, 

 average 14.50 ; wing 4.00-4.75, average 4.40 ; tail 4.50-5.50, average 5.00, always longer 

 tlian wing; bill about 1.00. Fh»rida (and Gulf States?), abundant. Very local, and not au- 

 thentic as occurring outside of Florida. Usual habits of Jays. Nest a flat structure, in the 

 scrubs, of twigs lined with fibres. Eggs 3-5, bluish-green, s|)aringly speckled, chiefly at larger 

 cTid, with brnwii. I ()5 X 0.80 ou an average, but ranging from 1.00 to 1.20 in length, laid 

 mnstly in April and May. (A. jloruhnm of former eds. of Key, after Bartram, 1791. 

 Garniliis ci/iowNs \'ir,ii.i,. 1817. A phchcoma cyanea Couks, Auk, Jan. 1899, p. 84 ; A. 0. U. 

 Suppl. List, ihid p. 1 12.) 



