86 



Diet: This consists of mice, dead birds, liver, soft food, 

 and fruit : he prefers grapes to any other kind of fruit. He gets 

 a little raw meat when mice and birds are not to hand. A mouse 

 he cleans out thoroughly till it is turned inside out, and only the 

 dry hide left. Dead birds he always plucks, and consumes the 

 brains first. 



I have only had him a short time, but he promises to be- 

 come a most interesting bird and beautiful beyond description a 

 little later, his plumage being still a little rough. He is a great 

 bather and also a rather noisy, garrulous and intelligent bird. 



[Out of the six or seven specimens that have been imported three 

 have found their way to the Zoo; one of these, the first arrival, only lived 

 a few days; about two or three weeks later two other specimens came to 

 hand, which I saw soon after their arrival, when the}' were still a little wild 

 and were not steady enough for extended observation, but I am strongly of 

 the opinion that they are not X. litxuosa but A', peruviana, which has the 

 under surface of a much brighter j-ellow. In the interval between these 

 two arrivals two other specimens came to hand, one being the individual 

 Mrs. Vernon describes, and the other passing into the possession of Mr. 

 W. Cook, who kindly permitted Mr. Goodchild to draw the beautiful and 

 striking plate which illustrates this article. From the little I have seen of 

 the Zoo specimens, the species is certain!)' fully deserving the warm eidogy 

 Mrs. Vernon has bestowed upon her bird. As the species is practically 

 new to English aviculture the following extract from Baird's " Birds of 

 North America" may be of interest. — Ed.] 



" Kio Grande Jay (Xanthoma litxuosa).— Specific Characters : Wings shorter than 

 " the tail, which is much graduated, the lateral feathers 1.25 inches shorter. Above 

 " green ; beneath yellow, glossed with green ; inside of wings and outer four tail feathers 

 "straw yellow; rest of tail feathers green, glossed with blue. Sides of the head, and 

 " beneath from the bill to the forepart of the breast, velvet black. Crown, nape, and a 

 " short maxilliary stripe running up to the eye and involving the upper eyelid, brilliant 

 "blue; the nostril feathers rather darker; the sides of the forehead white. Bill black ; 

 " feet lead colour. Length 11 inches; wing 4.75 ; tail 5.40; tarsus 1.65. 



"Hab.— Valley of Kio Grande, of Texas, and Southward. 



" This species is closely related to Xantlionra peruviana, which however is pure 

 " yellow beneath, has a white patch on the crown, and is, besides, considerably larger. 

 " The .V. guatemalensis, with a somewhat similar crown, has the abdomen yellow." 



