collected in Transcaucasia. 4.25 



130. Garrulus krynickii Kalenicz. 



All the Jays collected by Mr. Kobylin near Kutais, 

 Ssuram, and Akhalzikh belong to this form, which is very 

 common in the Caucasus (its typical locality) and in 

 Transcaucasia (except the south-easternmost and south- 

 westernmost parts, both somewhat peculiar in their faunas). 

 G. krynickii has also been recorded from the Crimea, the Balkan 

 Peninsula, and the western sliores of Asia Minor *. Are these 

 Balkan and Smyrna birds really identical with those from 

 Caucasia? I cannot say, having seen no specimens; the 

 former are described (in Dresser's magnificent work, iv. 

 p. 485; id. 'Manual/ p. 414) as having the nape and back 

 grey. In all my Transcaueasian specimens the back is 

 (though faintly) suffused with vinous, and the nape and hind- 

 neck are darker dull vinous, slightly tinged with grey. 



In the south-eastern part of Transcaucasia, the Talysh 

 lowlands, G. caspius is met with. In the south-western part, 

 the Chorokh basin and the neighbouring country, a Jay 

 abounds that was at once recognised as new to the .Russian 

 avifauna by Mr. Derjugin, who visited that country in the 

 summer of 1898 (Ann. Mus. Zool. Ac. Sc. St. P. v. 1900, 

 p. 48 f). Mr. Derjugin identified this Jay as *' G. rnelano- 

 cephalus, var. anatoliae Seeb." (and the Caucasian Jay as 

 G. atricapillus Geoffr.). In this I consider him to be wrong. 

 G. anatolice of Seebohm is plainly only a synonym of 

 G. krynickii. At any rate, Seebohm neglected the old 

 description of the Caucasian Jay by Prof. Kaleniczenko, while, 

 wrongly confounding X Turkish and Caucasian birds with 



* Mr. Danford ('Ibis,' 1877, p. 2G8) mentions it from the south- 

 eastern part of Asia Minor (Taurus), but were his birds compared with 

 (1. atricapillus and typical G. krynickii ! J 



t See also a shorter account in 1899, Trav. Soc. Imp. Nat. St. Pet., as 

 given below. 



X Seebohm, Hist. Br. P>. i. p. r>70 : " In Eastern Turkey, Asia 

 Minor, the Caucasus, Palestine, and South Persia a Black-headed Jay is 

 found, G. atricapillus, which principally differs from our bird in having 1 

 the crown and nape black and the feathers of the forehead and throat 

 nearly white. In Asia Minor many examples (G. anatolice) have the 

 darker forehead and throat of our bird, but retain the black head." Here 

 "our bird" means the British form of G. ylandarius, and "the black 

 head " refers to G. atricapillus. 



