292 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



restless, and was contimuilly in motion, Hying I'roin tree to tree, uttering its 

 well-known cries. 



^Ir. liidgway calls this a very interesting species, and states that it was 

 found vory abundant in the fertile canons of the West Humboldt Mountains, 

 as well as in all the extensive nut-pine and cedar woods to the eastward. On 

 tlie Toyaba and East Humboldt Mountains, and the extensive pifion woods in 

 Sdiitheru Idaho, it was eijually common. In Utah, in the canons of the 

 "W ahsatch Mountains, it was occasionally seen, though oftener observed in 

 the valley of the Weber. AVhen unmolested, this bird is, he stuces, very 

 unsuspicious, and anything unusual at once excites its curiosity. Often 

 when at work, in camp, skinning birds, on the edge of bushes, one of them 

 would ap])roach within a few feet, and c|uietly watch every movement. At 

 I'nionsville they were cpiite common in the gardens and around the door- 

 yards of the town, and were very familiar and unsuspicious. Their cries 

 greatly resembled those of the California Jay, and consisted of a repetition 

 of harsh screeching notes. 



This .species, according to Dr. Coues, is a resident and a very abundant 

 species in Arizona, where it is one of the most characteristic species. It 

 was found in all situations, but seemed to shuu dense pine woods, and to 

 prefer to keep on the open hillsides, among the scrub-oaks, etc. lu winter 

 it collects in rather large flocks, sometimes as many as fifty together. They 

 are, however, usually seen in small groups of six or seven individuals. 

 They are said to be a restless, vigilant, shy, and noi.sy species. 



Mv. C. E. Aiken found this bird a common and resident species in Colo- 

 rado. He met M'ith it along the foot of the mountains, in brush thickets, in 

 which tliey also breed. The base and periphery of a nest found by him were 

 composed of dead twigs, intermingled within with fine rootlets and horse- 

 hair. The eggs, four or five in number, are said to be laid about the first of 

 May. They have a ground-color of a light bluish -green, and marked with 

 reddish-brown specks, thickest at the larger end. They are of a rounded 

 oval shn])c, much more pointed at one eiul, and rounded at the other, and 

 average 1.06 inches in length by .80 of an inch in breadth. 



Cyanocitta ultramarina, var. arizonse, Ridgway. 



CyannciWi sonlUla (rot of SwAlN.s.!), Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 587, pi. \x. f. 1. — In. 

 Mcx. |{. II, Birds, 21, 1)1. xxii, f. 1._Coopeh, Om. Cal. I, 1870, 305. Cyanocitta 

 sonlida var. arixonw, Ridgway, Rep. U. S. Geol. Expl. 40th Par. 



Sp. Ciiah. Bill sliort, thick ; lialf as lii<?li a.s lonp;. Wing considerably longer than the 

 tail, which i.s .slightly graduatoil f.fjO of an inch). Upper .sinfaco (including whole .side 

 of liead to the throat) light .sky-blnc, the whole dorsal region inclining to pure blnish- 

 asliy. Beneath fnie, uniCoim, jtalc ash for anterior lialf ('in(tliiding the throat), this 

 gradnaliy lading into white on the posterior portions (including wliole abdomen), the 



