Azotes oil Some Forvis of Cissolopha. iii 



(a ripe-on-the-tree yellow banana is not to be despised), but you 

 may i.^nore them if you can conuuand the best varieties of these 

 five. 



(To be continued). 



^ 



Notes on Some Forms of Cissolopha. 



By Lrp: S. Crandall. 



After reading- Mr. W. Shore Baily's interesting article on 

 Jays, in Bird Notks, for March, 1922, it occurs to me that some 

 notes on the forms of Cissolopha, which usually appear in the 

 market as "" Yucatan Jays," might not be amiss. 



Five species and sub-species of this genus are known, 

 ranging" from Alexico into northern Nicaragua. In general, 

 all have the head, neck and underparts black, and the remainder 

 of the plumage some shade of blue. At first glance they seem 

 \ery much alike, but on closer examination it is found that they 

 really are easily distinguished. Four of the forms have been 

 represented in the collections of the New York Zoological 

 Society from time to time — we have three of them at this 

 writing — but the fifth I have never seen alive. 



The typical Yucatan Jay (C. yncatanica) is by far the most 

 common in captivity and is the one usually seen. 



Adult birds may be known from the other forms by having 

 the head free from crest, the irides dark in colour, and the 

 legs yellow. 



Young birds of this species, strangely enough, are white 

 where the old birds are black, and have the beak yellow as well. 

 Tn 191 1, in collaboration wath Mr. Wm. Beebe, I had the pleasure 

 of describing this plumage for the first time, as well as some of 

 the intermediate stages. 



Beechey's Jay (C. heechei) has a circle of elongated, 

 erectile feathers around each eye, a character not seen in any of 

 the others. Moreover, the iris is a pale greenish yellow, and 

 the legs are dark, nearly black, in colour. 



The San-blas Jay (C. san-blasiana san-blasiana) has a 

 scant but fairly long, recurved crest, just back of the base of 



