April, 1889.] 



AKD OOLOGIST. 



59 



CTANOCITTA STELLERI LITORALIS 



Novo. 



Northwest Coast Jay. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Suh. Sp. Ch. Similar to Cyanocitta stelleri, 

 Stellers' Jay, but differs in having no distinct 

 black bands on the tail, and but few on the 

 wings. Sexes, similar. 



Color. Adult. Head, all aroimd including 

 crest, anterior two-thirds of back, neck, and 

 anterior portion of breast, sooty black, dark- 

 est on crest. Remaining lower portions, deep 

 blue. Posterior back, and upper tail coverts, 

 blue, of a decidedly lighter, more opaque shade. 

 Concealed portions of closed wing, and tail 

 beneath, sooty brown with exposed surface of 

 secondaries, tertiaries, and tail above, very 

 dark, nearly purijlish-blue, the primaries are 

 paler, about intermediate in shade between the 

 secondaries and the lower portions. The ter- 

 tiaries and secondaries are inconspicuously 

 banded with dusky. The forehead is streaked 

 Avith blue of about the same shade as is seen 

 on the rump. Tibia, dusky. Bill and feet, black. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Of the two specimens that I have the fe- 

 male has faint bandings scarcely appreciable 

 in a direct light, on the extremity of the tail 

 and also on the wing coverts. The difference 

 between the shade of color on the secondaries 

 and primaries is a marked feature. Of course 

 a small percentage of Stellers' Jays from the 

 main-land near, will be found to have an ap- 

 proach toward this form in showing a ten- 

 dency to lose their wing and tail bands, but 

 I think the Vancouver .Jays are sufficiently 

 chai-acterized to warrant the name given. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Wing, If). 10; tail, 5.50; bill, 1.82; tarsus, 1,80. 

 Charles J. Mcti/nard. 



Observations on Cory's Gannet. 



[From advance sheets of "Contributions to Science."] 



In the adult stage this species is remarkably 

 uniform in coloration, and the same is true of 

 nestlings, and the first feathering, but in tlie 

 intermediate stages there is much more varia- 

 tion. In the plumage succeeding the adult, 

 which appears to occur much too seldom to be 

 assumed by all birds, there is great variation, 

 scarcely any two birds being colored exactly 

 alike. Usually the white color predominates, 

 but I have seen the brown in the ascendency, 

 especially above, while the white below is often 

 mottled with it. This dress is certainly not 



normal, for, judging from the specimens exam- 

 ined in the ganneti-y at Little Cayman where 

 there were some 10,000 birds, not one in a hun- 

 dred is thus colored. 



The next younger stage varies in amount of 

 white on the back, where it sometimes reaches 

 well up between the wings and extends along 

 tlie sides below\ The tail and its coverts ap- 

 pear to be the first jjortion to become white, 

 and as shown, as a rule, this becomes wholly 

 of this color the second year, but in one speci- 

 men, out of all I have, three outer feathers are 

 brown, but the upper and under coverts are 

 white. The usual variation in this stage is un- 

 doubtedly due to age, but there is no fixed 

 limit which will determine whether birds so 

 marked belong to the second or third year.* 



It is possible, that what I have abovet consid- 

 ered as an abnormal plumage may be the young 

 of the Red-faced Gannet, or reversion toward 

 that species; this is rendered more probable by 

 the amount of brown on the tail, as younger 

 birds in typical jjlumage have the tail wholly 

 white. 



Were it not for the fact, that the young, even 

 in the second year, have the tail wholly white, 

 I should be inclined to consider the adults 

 simply as a very high plumage of the Red-faced 

 Gannet, but in the face of this fact, Cory's 

 Gannet must be distinct from that species, and 

 I know of nothing else with which it can be 

 confounded. S. cyanopsi?, a much larger bird, 

 wing being over 16.00, instead of 15.00 and 

 under, and has much more brown on the wing 

 as well as having the tail constantly brown. 



The types, and all of the specimens that I ob- 

 tained, were taken on Little Cayman, but there 

 was a Gannet breeding on the cliffs at the east 

 end of Cayman Brae, which may have been this 

 species, but of this I am not now certain, as I 

 never saw one near enough to identify it. 



In this connection, it may be well to inquire 

 into the claims which 8ida piHcator, Red-faced 

 Gannet, has to be considered as a bird of the 

 insular fauna of the Caribbean Sea. It is true, 

 that it has been given as occurring on the Pedro 

 Keys, off .Jamaica, but may this not be S. Coryi f 

 Charles J. Maynard. 



Eggs of the Mexican Ground Dove. 



The eggs of the Mexican Ground Dove 

 {Columhirjallina jJasserina pallescen,^), see Ridg- 



* Since writing the above, I have concluded that, be- 

 yond a donbt, unusual as it is among Gannets, Corj^'s 

 Gannet a.'ssumes two phases of plumage in the adult 

 stages : viz., white and brown with tail white. 



t Page 40. 



