THE ARIZONA GREEN JAY. 



a) 



(^ HE geographical range of the 

 Arizona Jay is in southern 

 New Mexico and Arizona 

 and south into Sonora and 

 Chihuahua, Mexico. It is a common 

 resident throughout the oak belt which 

 generally fringes the foot-hills of the 

 mountains and ranges well up among 

 the pines. In suitable localities it is 

 very abundant. It is rarely seen at 

 any distance out of the arid plains ; 

 but after the breeding season is over, 

 small flocks are sometimes met with 

 among the shrubbery of the few water 

 courses, several miles away from their 

 regular habitat. They are seen in the 

 early Spring, evidently on a raid for 

 eggs and the young of smaller birds. 

 On such occasions they are very silent, 

 and their presence is only betrayed by 

 the scoldings they receive from other 

 birds. On their own heath they are 

 as noisy as any of our Jays, and 

 apparently far more sociable, a number 

 of pairs frequently nesting close to 

 each other in a small oak grove. 

 They move about in small family 

 parties of from half a dozen to twenty 

 or thirty, being rarely seen alone. 

 They are restless, constantly on the 

 move, prying into this or that, spend- 

 ing a good portion of their time on the 

 ground, now hopping on a low limb, 

 and the next minute down again, 

 twitching their tails almost constantly. 

 Their call notes are harsh and far 

 reaching, and are somewhat similar to 

 those of the California Jay. 



The voices of animals have a family 

 character not easily mistaken, and this 

 similarity is especially observable in 

 birds. As Agassiz says, " Compare all 

 the sweet warbles of the songster 



family — the nightingales, the thrushes, 

 the mocking birds, the robins; they 

 differ in the greater or lesser perfection 

 of their note, but the same kind of 

 voice runs through the whole group. 

 Does not every member of the Crow 

 family caw, whether it be a Jackdaw, 

 the Jay, or the Magpie, the Rook in 

 some green rookery of the Old World, 

 or the Crow of our woods, with its 

 long melancholy caw that seems to 

 make the silence and solitude deeper? " 



The habits of the Arizona Jay are 

 similar to those of its brethren. Its 

 food consists of grasshoppers, insects, 

 animal matter, wild fruits, seeds, and 

 especially acorns. It flies by partly 

 closing its wings, darting suddenly 

 down, then up again, and repeating 

 these movements for some time. It 

 mates about the end of February. 

 The nest, composed of dry rootlets 

 laid very closely in rings, is usually 

 found in an oak sapling about ten feet 

 from the ground. The inside diameter 

 is five inches, and depth one and three- 

 fourths inches. It is like a deep 

 saucer. 



The Arizona Jay is considered a 

 foothill bird, not going far into the 

 pines and not appearing on the plains. 

 But one brood appears to be raised in 

 a season, and nesting lasts about 

 sixteen days. The eggs vary from 

 four to seven, and differ from all the 

 known eggs of this family found 

 within the United States, being 

 unspotted. They are glaucous green 

 in color, and the majority are much 

 more glossy than Jays' eggs generally 

 are. In one hundred and thirty-six 

 specimens examined, all were perfectly 

 immaculate. 



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