ZOOLOGY. 85 



The flocks of magpies sometimes seen in California are very large, containing hundreds of 

 individuals. Their habits and manners betray distinctly their affinity to the crows as well as 

 to the jays. All vociferous, petulant, mischievous, social, omnivorous, the unlettered observer 

 groups these genera into one family from their habits, their flight, their attitudes, and their 

 cries, as satisfactorily as the closet naturalist associates similarities of anatomical structure. 



The American magpies resemble the European to a remarkable degree ; and I recognized the 

 magpie of California as a magpie, from his long tail and peculiar flight and cry, when too 

 distant to distinguish his colors or form. 



CYANOCITTA STELLERI. 



Steller's Jay. 



Steller's jay is, in size, form, and habits, the western representative of the blue jay (0. cristata) 

 of the eastern States. Of a much deeper blue, and without the elegant variety of color which 

 renders the blue jay one of the very handsomest of American birds, still, by the intensity of its 

 tint, its more conspicuous crest, its bold, defiant air, and its excessively harsh and disagreeable 

 cry, it challenges_and secures attention and a certain amount of admiration. 



It is almost exclusively confined to the hilly and mountainous districts, choosing in preference 

 those covered with forests of pine. At certain seasons its food consists almost entirely of the 

 seeds of the pine, particularly of P. brachyptera, which I have often seen them extracting from 

 the cones, and with which the oesophagus of those we killed was usually filled. 



This bird ranges at least as far north as the British line, and from the coast to the Rocky 

 mountains. I brought in specimens from southern and northern California, Oregon, and 

 Puget's Sound, the latter presented me by Lieutenant Trowbridge, United States army. 



CYANOCITTA CALIFORNICA. 

 California Jay. 



This is the first species of the genus which one sees on entering California by the way of 

 San Francisco, and is the only jay known to many of the inhabitants of the valleys and open 

 country. It occupies a lower altitude and a lower latitude than any other jay which we found 

 in the region traversed by us. 



The favorite haunts of the California jay are the trees and thickets bordering the streams in 

 the valleys. As we ascended among the evergreen forests of the higher grounds, and passed 

 northeasterly from the Sacramento valley, this bird left us, and long before reaching the line of 

 Oregon we had lost sight of it entirely ; nor did we find it again till our return to California 

 months afterward. 



The California jay has all the sprightliness and restlessness of the family, but is less noisy 

 and its note is more agreeable than that of Steller's jay, (O. Stellerii,) which replaces it at the 

 north. 



PERISOREUS CANADENSIS. 

 The Canada Jay. 



The Canada jay, or " whiskey jack," as be is familiarly called, descends much further to the 

 southward on the Pacific side of the Rocky mountains than in the valley of the Mississippi. 

 In California, we found them at the upper end of the Sacramento valley, in latitude 40°; while, 



