BIRDS — CORVIDAE GAERULINAE. 



575 



Specimens vary considerably in size. Thus No. 8488, from Fort Massachusetts, marked 

 female, is 11.50 inches long ; the wing 6 ; the tail 4.80. The color, too, is of a more intense 



blue throughout. 



List of specimens. 



Sub-Family GARRULINAE. 



Ch. — Wings short, rounded ; not longer or much shorter than the tail, which is graduated, sometimes excessively so. Wings 

 reaching not much beyond the lower tail coverts. Bristly feathers at base of bill variable. Bill nearly as long as the head, or 

 shorter. Tarsi longer than the bill or than the middle toe. Outer lateral claws rathsr shorter than the inner. 



The preceding diagnosis may perhaps characterise the garruline birds, as compared with the 

 crows. The sub-divisions of the group are as follows : 



A. Nostrils moderate, completely covered by incumbent feathers. 



a. Tail very long. 



Pica. — Tail excessively graduated ; nearly twice as long as the wings. First primary 

 attenuated, falcate. Head without crest. 



h. Tail about as long as the wing, or a little longer. 

 Cyanurus. — Head crested. Colors of wing and tail blue, banded with black. 

 Cyanocitta. — Head without crest. Color above blue, with a grey patch on the back. 

 Perisoreus. — Bill scarcely half the head, with white feathers over the nostrils. Plumage dull. 

 Xanthoura. — Head without crest. Color above greenish ; the head blue ; lateral tail feathers 

 yellow. 



B. Nostrils very large, naked, uncovered by feathers. 



PsiLORHiNus. — Head smooth ; tail broad ; wings two-thirds as long as the tail. 

 Calocitta. — Head with a recurved crest ; wings less than half as long as the tail. 



There is a very close relationship between the jays and the titmice, the chief apparent difference 

 being scarcely anything else than in the size. The feathers at the base of the bill, however, in 

 the jays are bristly throughout, with lateral branches reaching to the very tip. In Faridae 

 these feathers are inclined to be broader, and the shaft projecting considerably beyond the basal 

 portion, or the lateral branches confined to the basal portion, and extended forwards There is 

 no naked line of separation between the scutellae on the outer side of the tarsi. The basal joint 

 of the middle toe is united almost or quite to the end to the lateral, instead of half way. The 

 first primary is usually less than half the second, instead of rather more ; the fourth and filth 

 primaries nearly equal and longest, instead of the fifth being longer than the fourth. 



