on the Yucatan Jay.



117



In a note written at the time Mr. Falkner, in describing the

birds and their feeding, told me that the tamer of the two birds was

the hen. When they arrived here I was inclined to agree with him,

but I also suspected that the other bird was likewise a hen. We

both proved to be wrong, as subsequent history will show.


Before entering in meclias res I should again like to question

the wisdom of calling these birds Jays ; they have the general outline

of a Magpie, they have no crest, and their general behaviour and

cries, both of pleasure and alarm, are identical with those of my

Blue Pies which bred here in 1915.


In size this species is a little inferior to our Common Magpie.

The colour distribution is fairly easily described, being blue on the

back, upper surface of wings and tail; the shade of blue is a mixture

of saxe-blue and verditer, according to the light in which it is viewed.

The hill, head, neck, and under parts are black ; the legs primrose-

yellow. I am told that when these birds arrived they were in their

nestling plumage, and that their heads were white. The above

remark applies to some young birds imported by the late Major

Horsbrugh. Mr. Frostick, on the other hand, has also imported a

bird of this species—the hen of my pair—and he tells me that the

head in this case was not white, hut that the bill was yellow and

only turned black after the moult.


The birds came to me in March of this year, and were housed

in a large cage in a cold room for the first month. During this time

they played at nest-building, but their efforts never went further

than carrying a twig about and trying to wedge it into the wires of

the cage front. A good many “ scraps ” went on from time to time

and the tamer bird (the supposed hen) frequently took food from my

hand and gave it to the cock, who after a few' minutes would return

the food to the “hen,” who accepted the tit-bit with much squeaking

and flapping of wings.


In the middle of April the birds were turned out into a narrow

aviary 18 ft. long and about 3 ft. deep, at one end of which there is a

rather dark and very secluded shelter. Stick-carrying went on for

the next few weeks, two nesting sites being chosen—one in a standard

bay-tree; the other in a wooden box in the shelter. Nothing

approaching a nest was built, but I believe that the attempt in the



