36 pay THE GRINNELL JAY. 
the vicinity of their nest until they are certain of its discovery, in which case 
they call heaven and earth to witness that the man is a monster of iniquity, and 
that he is plotting against the innocent. 
In our experience, Steller’s Jay is not, as has been sometimes reported, a 
bird of the mountains. To be sure, it may be found in the mountain valleys, 
but if so it is practically confined to them. ‘The bird, is, however, ubiquitous 
thruout the lowlying countries of Puget Sound, Gray’s Harbor, and adjacent 
regions, giving way only upon the south to the dubious Grinnell Jay (S. s 
carbonacea). 
No. to. 
GRINNELL’S JAY. 
A. O. U. No. 478e. Cyanocitta stelleri carbonacea J. Grinnell. 
Synonyms.—“Biue Jay.” Coast Jay (A. O. U.). 
Description.— ‘Similar to C. s. stelleri, but paler thruout, and averaging 
slightly smaller; color of head very nearly as in C. s. steileri, but averaging 
browner or more sooty, the forehead always conspicuously streaked with blue, 
and throat more extensively or uniformly pale grayish; back and foreneck much 
paler, slaty brown or brownish slate, instead of deep sooty; blue of rump, upper 
tail-coverts, and under parts of body light dull cerulean or verditer blue, advanc- 
ing more over chest, where more abruptly defined against the sooty or brownish 
slate color of foreneck”’ (Ridgway). Adult males: wing 6.10 (150.5); tail 5.51 
(140) ; bill 1.15 (29.1) ; tarsus 1.75 (44.5). 
General Range.—Pacific Coast district from Monterey county, California, 
north to Columbia River. 
Range in Washington.—Has only theoretical status in State, but specimens 
taken along north banks of Columbia would appear to belong here. 
Authorities.— ? Corvus stelleri, Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. and Can. I. 1832, 
229 (“Columbia River”). ? Orn. Com. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII. 1837, 193. 
C. s. frontalis, R. H. Lawrence, Auk XVII. Oct. 1892, p. 355 (Gray’s Harbor). 
C. s. carbonacea Grinnell, Ridgway, Birds of No. and Mid. Am. Vol. III. p- 354 
(footnote). L. Kb. 
ORNITHOLOGY is the furthest refined of the systematic sciences. So 
zealous have been her devotees and so sagacious her high priests, that no shade 
of difference in size, form or hue of a bird is allowed to pass unnoticed, or its 
owner unnamed. It is unquestionably annoying to the novice to be confronted 
with such subtleties, and the recognition of subspecies in the vernacular names 
of our birds is of doubtful wisdom; but the fashion is set and we will all be 
foolish together—so that none may laugh. 
The normal range of Grinnell’s Jay, as defined, extends northward to the 
