1912] Swarth: Birds and Mammals from Vancouver Island 47 



much by diminishing the number of predaceous birds and mam- 

 mals, for I doubt if these affect the jay population appreciably. 

 but through the supplying of an abundance of food and more 

 congenial surroundings. They certainly prefer partly cleared or 

 fairly open woodland to the dark, uninterrupted forest, and this 

 is, I believe, the main reason for their much greater abundance 

 about the outskirts of civilization on Vancouver Island than on 

 the densely forested west coast. At the latter point they were 

 present in about the same numbers as on the coast of southeastern 

 Alaska, where conditions are very similar. 



Forty-nine specimens of Steller jays were collected during 

 the summer (nos. 15778-15826), twenty-three summer adults. 

 eighteen juvenals, and five adults and three immatures in fresh 

 fall plumage. Host of the young were taken at Beaver Creek 

 during June; none at any of the earlier camps. The Nootka 

 series (nos. 15813-15821) consists of tin re adults and six young. 

 The young birds (taken from July 28 to August 10) are all well 

 advanced in the post-juvenal molt. The three adults (two shut 

 on August 8, and one on August 10) are in fresh winter plumage. 

 This seems to me to be a very early date at which to have com- 

 pleted the post-nuptial molt, but only one of the three has any 

 pin feathers remaining, and this one but a few. The large flocks 

 seen at Errington in September were all in perfect winter 

 plumage. 



I have compared the large series of Steller jays we collected 

 on Vancouver Island with the Alaskan material in the Museum 

 with much interest, especially so with the birds from the more 

 southern Alaskan islands (Prince of Wales, Dall, etc.). I still 

 (see Swarth, 1911, p. 78) do not see that we are justified in con- 

 sidering the Prince of Wales birds the same as carlottae. They 

 are slightly larger than the average of typical stelleri (though 

 well within the range of variation of the subspecies), and some 

 individuals are, perhaps, a slightly deeper blue, but the differ- 

 ences are too slight and impalpable to warrant our considering 

 these individuals as carlottae (see Osgood, 1905, p. 70) and thus 

 extending the range of this subspecies over part of an island 

 i widely separated from the rest of its habitat), when there is 

 nothing to hinder its occurrence over the rest of this and on 

 adjacent islands. 



