BIRDS — CORVIDAE— XANTHOURA LUXUOSA. 589 



XANTHOURA, Bonaparte. 



Xanthoura, Bonaparte, Consp. Av. 1850. Type Corvus peruvianus, Gm. 



Ch. — Head without crest. Tliroat black. Lateral tail feathers bright yellow. Bill very stout ; rather higher than bioad ; 

 culmen curved from the base. Nostrils rather small, oval, concealed. Tail longer than the wings ; graduated. The wings 

 concave, rounded ; the secondaries nearly es long as the primaries. Legs very stout ; hind claw about half the total length of 

 the toe. 



This genus is most easily to be recognized by tbe prevailing green color of tbe body, the blue 

 head, black throat, and yellow outer tail feathers. The bill is stouter and larger than in any of 

 our other jays, and the culmen more curved. The chief peculiarity of form is seen in the wings, 

 in which the primaries are remarkably short, scarcely longer than the longest secondaries and 

 tertials. They thus reach only about as far as the end of the upper tail coverts instead of much 

 beyond them, a character quite peculiar among American Corvidae, except approximately in 

 Fsilorhi7ius. 



XANTHOURA LUXUOSA, Bonap. 

 Rio Grande Jay. 



Garrulus luxuosus, Lesson, Rev. Zool. April 1839, 100. 



Cyanocorax luxuosus, Ddbhs, Esquisses Ornithologiques, iv, 1848 ; pi. xviii.— Cassin, llhist. I, 1853, I ; pi. 1. 

 Xanthoura luxuosa, Bon. Consp. 1850, 380. — Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 224. 



Pica chloronola, Wagler, Isis, 1829, 750. Young male. Name belongs to Corvus peruvianus, Gm. 

 Cyanocorax cyanicapillus, Cabanis, Fauna Peruana, 1844- '46, 233. (Note.) 



Cyanocorax yucas, " Boddaert," Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lye. V, April, 1851, 115. First added here to fauna o 

 United States. Name belongs to the C peruvianus, 



Sp. Ch. — 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 fore part of the breast, velvet black. Crown, nape, and 

 a short maxillary 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 color. Length, 11 inches ; wing, 4.75 ; tail, 5.40 ; tarsus, 1.65. 



Hab. — Valley of Rio Grande, of Te.\as, and southward. 



The blue maxillary patch is broadly truncated behind. The feathers of the forehead are 

 yellowish at base. The green of the back is not uniform, but is glossed in the middle of the 

 back with blue ; not so deep as that of the middle tail feathers. The feathers of the under 

 parts are all yellow at base, which shows through the green, and is particularly distinct on the 

 middle of the belly, and just below the black of the jugulum. The tibia are chiefly yellow. 

 The white of the forehead borders the black as far as above the eye ; that of opposite sides 

 meets along the middle of the forehead, but is there less conspicuous. 



Another specimen, 8365, is of a bright yellowish green above, with less blue on the tail. 

 The blue of the head is much lighter, without any purplish shade ; the light frontal bar is 

 yellowish rather than white. There is more yellow visible beneath. In all the specimens I 

 have seen, however, the green of the under parts is very decided. 



The description of Garrulus luxuosus by Lesson omits mention of the white frontal band. 



This species is closely related to Xanthoura peruviana, which, however, is pure yellow beneath, 

 has a white patch on the crown, and is, besides, considerably larger. The A", guatemalensis, 

 with a somewhat similar crown, has the abdomen bright yellow. 



