CORVID.'E — THE CROWS. 281 



and show great saf^acity in their movements to avoid its peril. On the 

 Columbia tlicy lay in May, and in Calitbrnia about a mouth earlier. 



Cyanura stelleri, vur. macrolopha, Baird. 



LONO-CSESTED JAT. 



Cijnnneittn vuicrnhplia, n.MUl), Pr. A. N. Sc. I'hila. VII, .luno, 1854, 118 (AIlmquprqHc). 

 Klnn-ulus slilhri, Swainson, F. Bor.-Am. II, 1831, 29J, pi. liv (head-waters of Co- 

 lumbia ; tigure of a bird iiiti'iiiKMliatc lictwiicn C. strUeri and macrolopha). Cyanura 

 macrolopha, Baiud, Hird.s N. Am. 1858, 582. — Elliot, Illust Am. B, I, .wii. — 

 Codi'Kit, Oni. Cal. I, 1870, 300. 



Sp. Char. Crest nearly twice the length of the hill. Tail moderately prraduated ; the 

 lateral feathers about .GO oP an inch shorter than the middle. Fourth and fillh quills 

 longest ; second sliorter than tlie secondaries. Head all round, throat, and forepart of 

 the brea.st, black, the crest with a gloss of blue; rest of back dark ashy-brown with a 

 gloss of greenish. Under parts, rump, tail-covert.s, and outer surfaces of primaries, 

 greenish-blue; greater coverts, secondaries, and tortial.'*, and upper surface of tail-feathers 

 briglit blue, banded with black ; forehead streaked with opaque white, passing behind 

 into pale blue; a white patch over the eye. Chin grayish. Length, 12.50 ; wing, 5.85; 

 tail, 5.85; tarsus, 1.70 (8.351). 



IIau. Central line of Rocky Moimtains from northern border of the United States to 

 tible-lands of Mexico ; Fort Whiiiple, Arizona. 



Young birds have tlie briglit blue of body and black of head replaced by 

 a dull slate ; the head unvaried. 



An apparent link between this variety and C. stelleri is represented in 

 the Smithsonian collection by three specimens from the region towards 

 the head-waters of the Columbia, where the rcopcctive areas of distribution 

 of the two overlap. In this the anterior parts of the body are nearly as 

 black as in stelleri (mucli darker than mncrolopha), with the sliort crest; liut 

 the forehead (except in one specimen) is streaked with blue, and there is a 

 white patch over the eye. As in stelleri, tliere are no black bars on the 

 greater wing-coverts. As this is an abundant form, whether permanent race 

 or hybrid, it may be called var. anncetens. 



Habits. The Long-crested Jay appears to occur throughout the central 

 range of the IJocky Mountains from British Columbia to Mexico, where it 

 is replaced by a closely allied species or race, the Ci/anura eoronata of Swain- 

 son. 



Mr. Ridgway met with this Jay only among the Wahsatcli and the 

 Uintah Mountains. They appeared to be rather common in those regions, 

 though far from being abundant. In their manners and in their notes 

 they arc described as having been almost an exact counterpart of the 

 Sierra Nevada form. Tlieir notes, however, are said to be not so loud nor 

 so coarse as those of the more western species. A nest, found by Mr. Ridg- 

 way, Jinie 25, 18G'.), in Parley's Park, Walisatch Mountains, was in a small 



VOL. II. 3() 



