THE BIRD BOOK 



482a. 



Couch's Jay. 

 couchi. 



Aphelocoma sieberi 



Green Jay 



Grayish buff 



Range. — Eastern Mexico, north to western 

 Texas. 



483. Green Jay. Xanthoura luxuosa 

 glaucescens. 



Range. — Northeastern Mexico and the Lower 

 Rio Grande Valley in Texas. 



This handsome species has a bright blue 

 crown and patches under 

 the eyes, the rest of the 

 upper parts being green- 

 ish; throat and sides of 

 head black, underparts 

 greenish white. This gaudy 

 and noisy bird has all the 

 habits common to other 

 Jays including that of rob- 

 bing birds' nests. They 

 build generally in tangled 

 thickets or low bushes, placing their nests at a low elevation and making them 

 of twigs, weeds, moss, etc., lined with fine rootlets. Their four or five eggs, 

 which are laid during April or May, are grayish buff in color, spotted with 

 various shades of brown and lavender gray. Size 1.20 x .85. 



484. Canada Jay. Perisoreus canadensis canadensis. 



Range. — Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the 

 United States; west to the Rockies. 



This is the bird that is well known to hunters of "big game" by various 

 names such as "Whiskey Jack," "Moose Bird," "Camp Robber," etc. Dur- 

 ing the winter months, owing to the scarcity of food, their thieving 

 propensities are greatly enhanced and they 

 remove everything from the camps, which looks 

 as though it might be edible. Birds of this 



genus are smoky gray 



on the back and lighter 



below, shading to white 



on the throat; the fore- 

 head and part of the 



crown is white and the 



nape blackish. Their 



nests are placed at low 



elevations in bushes or 



fir trees, and are usual- 

 ly very different from any of the preceding Jays' 

 nests. They are nearly as high as wide, and 

 are made of small twigs, moss, catkins, weeds 

 and feathers making a soft spongy mass which 

 is placed in an upright crotch. The eggs are 

 a yellowish gray color spotted and blotched with 

 brown and grayish. Size 1.15 x .80. Data. — In- 

 nisfail, Alberta, March 12, 1903. Nest a beauti- 

 ful structure of twigs, moss and feathers in a 

 willow bush, 6 feet from the ground. The ther- 

 mometer registered 32 below zero the day the 

 eggs were taken. Collector, W. Blackwood. 



308 



Grayish 



Canada Jay 



