370 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



is about 9 inches, and the height of the nest- 4 inches. The interior is 5 inches 

 in diameter and 3 in depth." 1 



I have met with this subspecies in the Bitter Root Mountains, in Montana 

 and Idaho, as well as in the Blue Mountains of Oregon and Washington; but it 

 appeared nowhere to be common. At Fort Walla Walla, Washington, I shot a 

 number of these birds during the winter months, when they left the mountains 

 and foraged about the settlements in the valleys. At such times I have fre- 

 quently seen them among the willows along creek bottoms, fully 20 miles from 

 the nearest pine timber. I sent eleven skins, taken in this locality, to Mr. William 

 Brewster, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, who pronounced five of them typical 

 Cyanocitta stelleri annectens, and two nearly typical Cycmocitta stelleri, and foul- 

 intermediate between these two forms. 



Dr. C. Hart Merriam reports this Jay as very rare in south central Idaho, 

 but found it common, in 1872, in the Teton Basin, near the boundary line 

 between Idaho and Wyoming. 2 



I failed to notice any difference in their habits from those of Steller's Jay, 

 excepting that they appeared to be less noisy, and on this account they are 

 perhaps less often observed. 



The only eggs of this subspecies in the United States National Museum 

 collection are three, from the set previously referred to as taken by Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway. They resemble the eggs of the three preceding subspecies in every 

 particular, and measure, respectively, 31.50 by 21.34, 32 by 21.84, and 32 b)^ 

 22.35 millimetres; or 1.24 by 0.84, 1.26 by 0.86, and 1.26 by 0.88 inches. 



The type specimen, No. 15431 (not figured), from an incomplete set of six 

 eggs, was taken by Mr. Robert Ridgway, in Parley's Park, Utah, as previously 

 stated. 



145. Aphelocoma floridana (Bartram). 



FLORIDA JAY. 



Corvus floridanus Bartram, Travels in Carolina, 1791, 291. 

 Aphelocoma floridana Cabanis, Museum Heineanum, I, 1851, 221. 

 (B 439, C 236, R 291, C 354, U 479.) 



Geographical range : Florida. 



The range of the Florida Jay, locally known as the "Scrub" or "Bush" 

 Jay, appears to be confined to the Florida Peninsula, and even there it is only 

 found in certain localities. As far as I am able to learn, it has not yet been 

 observed north of St. Augustine or south of Lake Worth, on the east coast ; nor 

 north of Pine Point and south of Punta Rassa, on the Gulf coast. It therefore 

 occupies only a comparatively small area of the State. In certain sections of 

 Florida, especially near the coast, and close to some of the larger rivers, sandy 

 ridges are found which produce an almost impenetrable thicket of low, scrubby 



1 History of North American Birds, 1874, Vol. II, pp. 281, 282. 



2 North American Fauna, No. 5, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 1891, p. 99. 



