74 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



or bushes; generally, as Mr. F. M. Dille writes me from Colorado, art- 

 fully concealed in a bunch of rubbish at the top of a pine or spruce. He 

 says he has found the nests with eggs all through June. It is rather large 

 and coarse, made of small sticks and weed-stalks, with very little attempt 

 at Hning. Mr. Dille says that he has found five eggs to be invariably the 

 number laid. 



291. Florida Jay — aphelocoma floridana. Light blue or greenish- 

 ground, sparingly sprinkled with rufous and black, the spots being larger 

 and more numerous towards the larger end ; four or five eggs are laid ; size 

 I. by .80. This beautiful Jay is confined to Florida. The nest is a flat 

 structure placed in bushes, composed of leaves, small dry sticks, lined with 

 fibrous plants, often with wool and feathers. The eggs of this genus 

 {Aphelocoma) usually have more of a greenish-ground and heavier mark- 

 ings than those of Cyanocitta. 



292. Woodhouse's Jay — aphelocoma woodhousei. Light bluish- 

 green, marked with reddish-brown specks, thickest at the larger end, 

 rounded-oval; three to five; size 1.06 by .80. This Jay belongs to the 

 Rocky Mountain region of United States from Wyoming and Idaho south- 

 ward, inhabiting scrub-oak and other thickets on open hillsides. The nest 

 is built in bushes and thickets, or in low trees of thick foliage, composed 

 of twigs, rootlets, and a lining of horse-hair. 



293. California Jay — aphelocoma californica. Dark sea-green, 

 marked with numerous pale brown blotches, chiefly at the larger end; 

 the complement of eggs ranges from three to five in number ; 

 size about 1.06 by .80. The California Jay is a Pacific coast species, 

 occurring from the Columbia River southward to Cape St. Lucas. The 

 nest is usually placed in a low tree or bush ; it is large and bulky, built of 

 twigs, roots, and grass. Trees and thickets bordering the streams in the 

 valleys are the favorite haunts of this Jay in California. 



295. Arizona Jay — aphelocoma sordida arizontE. Mr. Brewster, 

 on a collection of Arizona Birds, (Bull. Nutt. Club, vii., October, 1882, pp. 

 201, 202,) mentions a nest of this bird found in the Santa Rita Mountains. 

 It was a bulky structure, composed chiefly of yellowish rootlets with some 

 coarse dead twigs protecting its exterior, and a scanty lining of fine grasses. 

 The female was sitting on four eggs, which were on the point of hatching. 

 The only specimen saved measured 1. 13 by .82. It is pale greenish-blue, 

 absolutely without markings, and closely resembles a Robin's &^^. " Two 

 others were similar, as were three eggs of a set taken in 1876, and two of 



