200 



NOUTll AMKliUAN lilliDS. 



The Mil ill this jjenns is not unlike that of Stunius ami Stunwlla, and 

 conspicuous anionic Coicina- by its uncovered nostrils. 



Oymnokitta cyanocephala, Pr. Max. 



MAXIMlLIAirS JAT 



Gymnorhinm cynnotrphnhis, Vw.. Maximiiian, K»'i.s«' in das iniuiv Nortl-Anicrika, IT, 1841, 

 21. - In. Voyaj^'f daii.s rAm. du Nord, III, 1843, 296. (ii/iiiiiokittn rifiUKHrpha/a, "pR, 

 Max. IS.'.o."' Hp. Cohsiki tus, IS'.O, :is-2. — Ca.xsin, Ilhist. I, vi, 1854, 1«>j, i>1. xxviii. 

 - Nkwiikkky, Kep. V. K. U. Vi, iv. 1857, 8;i. — IJaiul, Minis N. Am. 1858, 574. - 

 M.vx. Cal.. .1. VI, 1858, 193. — ro.u-KK. Oni. Cal. I, 1870, 21)2. PsUorhiiuis cijann- 

 cephnlust (tKAY, (ieiifirt. Cyanoconu: aiasiai, AlC'ALL, Tr. A. N. Sc. V, June, 1851, 

 216. 



Sp. Char. Wind's considerably Ioui^mm- than the tail, and reachinir to within an inch of 



its tip. Tail nearly even. (Jeneial 

 color dnll hlne, paler on the al)dotiien, 

 the middle of which is tinjred with 

 ash ; the head and neck of a much 

 deeper and more intense blue, darker 

 on the crown Chin and forepart of 

 the throat whitish, streaked with V»lue. 

 Len«:th, lO.(M); win^', o.DO ; tail, 4.')l>; 

 tarsus, l..'jO. Young bin! not difler- 

 int; in niarkuij^r-s. 



IIab. Kocky Mountains of Colo- 

 rado, to Cascade Mts. of California and 

 Orejron. Xot on the Pacific coast? 

 South to New Mexico and Arizona. 



The female is appreciably dif- 

 ferent from the male, l)oth in size 

 and plumage, beinf( smaller, and 

 of a li«iht bluish-ash tint. This 

 difference is readily appreciable when the birds are seen Hying. 



Habits. ]\Iaximiliun'.^ Jay was discovered and first described by that 

 eminent naturalist, ^laximilian, Prince of Wied, in his lx)ok of travels in 

 Xorth America, published in 1841. Mr. Edward Kern, who was connected 

 with Colonel Fremont's ex] Coring expedition in 1840, was the first to bring 

 specimens of tliis interesting and remarkable bird to the notice of American 

 naturalists, transmitting them to the Philadeli)hia Academy. The sj)eci- 

 niens procured by its discoverer were met with by him on Maria's Iiiver, 

 one of the tributaries of the U]>])er Missouri, in the extreme northern 

 portion of our northwestern territory, a pomt much farther north than it 

 has been met with by any other naturalist. As this species has since been 

 seen in large numbers in New Mexico, it may be presumed to extend its 

 movements over (piite an extended area of distribution in the region of the 

 liOL-ky Mountains. 



Gyvinokitta cyanocephala. 



