36 llll-: C.RINNEU. J.W^ 



the vicinity of their nest unlil thcv arc certain of its discovery, in wliicli case 

 thev call heaven and eartii t<> witness that the man is a nmnster of ini(|nity, and 

 that he is plotting against the innocent. 



In our cx|)erience. Steller's Jay is not, as has l)ecn .soiiictinies reivirted, a 

 bird of the inoinitains. To l)c sure, it may Ijc found in the mountain zallcys. 

 but if so it is practically confined to them. The bird, is, however, ubiquitous 

 thruout the low lying countries of Pugct Sound, dray's Uarl)or, and adjacent 

 regions, giving way only upon the south to the dubious Grinnell Jay ^.S". s. 

 carbonacca). 



No. 10. 



GRINNELL'S JAY. 



.^. (X l^ Xo. 478c. Cyanocitta stelleri carbonacea J. (".riiinfli. 



Synonyms. — "Bi.iE Jay." Coast Jav ( .\. O. U.). 



Description. — "Similar to C". s. sicllcri, but paler thruout. and averaging 

 sliglnly smaller; color of head very nearly as in C. s. strilcri, 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 abru])tly delined against the sooty or brownish 

 slate cf)lor of foreneck" ( Ridgway ». Adult males: wing 6.10 ( 150.3) ; tail 3.31 

 (140'); bill 1. 15 (29.0 : tarsus 1.73 (44.3V 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district from MoiUerey couiUy, California, 

 north to Cohmibia River. 



Range in WashinRton. — lias only theoretical status in State, but spccnuens 

 taken along north hanks of Columbia would apjiear to belong here. 



Authorities. — ':' Conns stelleri, Nuttall, Man. Orn. V. S. and Can. I. 1832. 

 229 ("CohiTubia River"). ?r)rn. Com. Journ. .\c. N'at. Sci. I'hila. \'II. 1837, 193. 

 C. s. frontalis, R. H. Lawrence. Auk W'll. Oct. 1892. p. 333 (Gray's Harlxir). 

 C. s. carbonacea Cirinnell. Ridgvay, P.irds of Xo. and Mid. .\m. \'ol. III. p. 334 

 (footnote). I.. Kb. 



ORXlTnOI.OGV is the furthest rehne<l of the systematic sciences. So 

 zealous liave been her flevotees and so sagacious her high priests, that no sliade 

 r>f difference in si/e. form or hue of a bird is allowed to pass uuni>ticed. or its 

 owner muiamed. It is unquestionably aiuioying to the novice to Im? confronte<l 

 with such subtleties, and the recognition of subsiiecies 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 



