THE GRAY JAY. 41 



Ijecii I'liinul near Ixtninn w licre llicir jireseiicc during' tlic hreetling season wuuld 

 otiierwise liave gone unsuspected. Tlie deptlis of the forest liave no terrors for 

 this quiet giiost, and there are otlier reasons besides color why he remains tlie 

 obscure one. 



No. 14. 



GRAY JAY. 



.\. C). U. Xo. 483a. Perisoreiis ohsciiriis jfriseus Ridgw. 



Synonyms. — CA.%rr RfinnKK, clc. 



Description. — "Similar to /'. o. obsiiirus, but decidedly larger (except feet), 

 and coloration much grayer; bacb, etc., deep mouse gray, instead of brown, 

 remiges and tail between gray (No. 6) and smoke gray, instead of drab gray, 

 and under parts grayish white instead of brownish white." iRidgway). Length 

 (Av. of three Glacier specimens) 11. 16 (283.5): wing 5.82 ( 147.6); tail 5.48 

 (139.1) ; bill .75 (19); tarsus 1.25 (31. 7I. 



General Range. — Central mountain ranges of central California, Oregon, 

 Washington, and ISritish Columbia. 



Range in Washington. — Thruout the Cascade Alountahis and irregularly 

 along their lower slopes west (?) to tidewater. 



Authorities. — ? P. canadensis Fionap.. Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., Vol. 

 IX, pt. II, i8mS, p. 591 (Cascade Mts. W. T.). Ridgwav, Auk, \'ol. XVI., ]u\y, 

 1899, 225. Kk. ? 



THE "Camp-Robber'" apjiears promijtly as interested neighbor and 

 smell-feast Ijefore all who invade the precincts of the mountains. The hunter, 

 the trajjper, the prospector, the timber cruiser, the mere camper-out, all know 

 him. and they speak well or ill of him according to their kind. The Gray Jay 

 appears to have forsworn tiie craftiness of his race, and he wins by an 

 exhibition of artless simplicity, rather than by wiles. The bird is mildly 

 curious and hungry — oh, \ery hungry — but this is Arcadia, and the shepherds 

 draw nigh with never a doubt of their welcome. There is a childlike 

 insouciance about the way in which the liird annexes a piece of frizzled bacon, 

 humbly intended for the man. " "Shoo,' did you say? Why, what do you 

 mean? Can't I have it?" And the bird retires before a flving chip, baffled 

 and injured l)y such a manifest token of ill-breeding. He complains mildly 

 to his fellows. They discuss the question in gentle zi'Iie^i's; generously con- 

 clude you didn't mean it, and return unabashed to the quest. 



Hunger is the chief characteristic of these docile birds, and no potential 

 food is refused, nuts, acorns, insects, berries, or evai, as a last resort, the 

 buds of trees. Meat of any sort has an especial attraction to them : and they 

 are the despair of the tra]>per liecause of their propensity for stealing bait. 



