{ 453 ) 
STELLER’S JAY. 
CORVUS STELLERI, MEL. 
PLATE CCCLXII. Anutr. 
Or this Jay, discovered by StELLER, whose name it bears, Dr 
Ricuarpson states that it “is not uncommon in the summer time on 
the Pacific coast of America, from the mouth of the Columbia to the 
56th parallel. It also frequents the Rocky Mountains, where Mr 
Droumwonp procured a specimen. In its manner it greatly resembles 
the Garrulus cristatus.” Mr Nutracuy’s account of it is as follows :— 
* We first observed this bird in our Western route in the Blue 
Mountains of the Columbia, east of Wallah Wallah. Here they were 
scarce and shy, but we met them in sufficient abundance in the 
majestic pine forests of the Columbia, where, in autumn, their loud 
and trumpeting clangour was heard at all hours of the day, calling out 
djay, djay, and sometimes chattering and uttering a variety of other 
notes scarcely recognisable as. distinct from the calls of our common 
Blue Jay. They are, however, far more bold, irritable, and familiar. 
Watchful as dogs, a stranger no sooner shews himself in their vicinity 
then they neglect all other employment to come round, follow, peep at 
and scold him, sometimes with such pertinacity and irritability as to 
provoke the sportsman intent on other game to level his gun against 
them in mere retaliation. At other times, stimulated by mere curio- 
sity, they will be observed to follow you in perfect silence, until 
something arouses their ready ire, when the djay, djay, pay, pay, is 
poured upon you without intermission, till you are beyond their view. 
So intent are they on vociferating, that it is not uncommon to hear 
them busily scolding even while engaged with a large acorn in the 
mouth. Of their geographical limits we are as yet uncertain. They 
were first found by STELLER at Nootka; but they do not extend into 
upper California, and scarcely to the west as far as the most western 
of the true Rocky Mountain Chains. They feed on insects, acorns, 
and the seeds of the gigantic pines which form a belt along the Pacific 
and the rivers of the Oregon Territory. In the month of May, I 
found a nest of this species in a small sapling of Douglas’s Fir, on the 
