68 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 7 



from Los Angeles and San llernardino counties, south to Lower California, to the 

 form Aphclocoma caUfornica obscara Anthony, I am informed by J. Grinnell that, 

 after a careful study of the question by himself and 11. S. Svvarth, they have 

 arrived at the conclusion that all the southern California birds are referable to 

 califoniica and that obsciira has no standing as a bird of California. 



J. Grinnell found a nest of the California Jay that contained young about 

 two-thirds grown on March 25, 1897 (Pub. 2, Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1898, 32). 

 W. M. Pierce took four fresh eggs near Claremont, Los Angeles County, March 

 20, 1902, and I- took four slightly incubated eggs at 5400 feet altitude in the San 

 Bernardino Mountains, June 7, 1906. 



226. (481.1) Aphelocoma insularis Henshaw. Santa Cruz Jay. 



This well marked insular form is confined to Santa Cruz Island, where it is 

 a common resident. The specimens from which the species was originally de- 

 scribed were taken by H. W. Henshaw in June, 1875 (Auk iii, 1886, 452). The 

 nesting season is in April and early May. In November and December, 1907, C. 

 B. Linton and myself found this jay to be one of the most abundant land birds 

 on Santa Cruz Island. They were singularly tame and unsuspicious for a blue 

 jay and we had no trouble in securing all the specimens we desired. J. Mailliard 

 found two nests containing eggs, and two nests containing young birds, the latter 

 part of April, 1898 ( Bull. Cooper Orn. Club i, 1899, 43). R. H. Beck took three 

 sets of eggs May 8, 1897. Two sets were of three eggs each and the other was 

 of two (Bull. Cooper Orn. Club. i. 1899, 6). On April 28 and 29, 1906, O. W. 

 Howard found seven nests of this species in scrub oak trees. Two of the nests 

 contained, respectively, five slightly incubated eggs and three eggs, incubation 

 commenced. The other five nests contained young birds. J. S. Appleton took two 

 fresh eggs June 7, 1906, probably a second laying. 



227. (486) Corvus corax sinuatus Wagler. Raven. 



Common resident, locally, in the more unsettled portions of the hill ctnmtry. 

 Particularly plentiful on the Santa Barbara Islands where, owing to its reputation 

 as a destroyer of newly-born lambs, it is shot by the sheep men at every oppor- 

 tunity. The bird from the Santa Barbara Islands has been referred by Robert 

 Ridgway to the race Con'iis corax clarionensis Rothschild & Hartert (Bds. N. & 

 Mid. Am. in, 1904, 265). I consider this conclusion erroneous, as specimens 

 which I secured on the islands are identical with others from the mainland. The 

 Raven begins nesting in the latter part of March, and fresh eggs may be found 

 until late in April. If the nest is robbed, a second and even a third set will be laid. 

 Lawrence and Sidney Peyton have taken several sets of eggs in Castaic Canon, 

 northern Los Angeles County. I have taken a number of sets on the Santa Bar- 

 bara Islands, and in the Puente Hills, near Whittier, Los Angeles County. In the 

 latter locality the birds were common fifteen years ago but are now rare. According 

 to L. Belding, the Raven is a common resident in the vicinity of San Diego 

 (Land Bds. Pac. Dist., 1890, 112). Extreme nesting dates are: Five fresh eggs 

 taken by G. Willett near Whittier, March 14, 1895 (Oologist xii, 1895, 110), and 

 three slightly incubated eggs taken by W. L. Chambers near Santa Monica, May 

 9, 1896 (Grinnell, Pub. 2, Pasadena Acad. Sci., 1898, 32). 



