394 MFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



158. Perisoreus obscurus (Ridgway). 



OREGON JAY. 



Perisoreus canadensis var. obscurus Ridgway, Bulletin Essex Institute, November, 1873, 194. 

 Perisoreus obscurus Shaepe, British Museum Catalogue of Birds, III, 1877, 105. 

 (B — , C 239a, R 298, C 361, TJ 485.) 



Geographical range: From the higher mountainous regions of northern California 

 north through Oregon and Washington into British Columbia. 



The Oregon Jay, better known, throughout its range as "Meat Hawk," 

 "Camp Robber," and "Venison Bird," is a constant resident of the higher moun- 

 tains of northern California, Oregon, Washington, and a considerable portion of 

 British Columbia, and breeds wherever found. I met with it first on the summit 

 of the Blue Mountains, between Canyon City and Camp Harney, Oregon, on 

 June 12, 1877, at an altitude of about 6,500 feet. I was escorting an army 

 paymaster, and after a laborious climb to the top of the steep mountain at the 

 foot of which nestles the little mining town from which we started, I stopped 

 for luncheon and to rest the animals. While so engaged I heard several whis- 

 tles in a large pine close by, and these were answered from other directions. 

 Shortly after I saw one of these birds in a little fir a few feet from where 

 I was sitting at lunch. I threw him some scraps of bread and meat, and he 

 was by no means slow in accepting the invitation to help himself. A few 

 minutes later three others made their appearance and fed among our party with 

 the utmost unconcern, and almost allowed themselves to be touched. Here they 

 are found only in the highest portions of the mountains, which attain an altitude 

 of about 7,000 feet. I did not see any in the neighborhood of Camp Harney. 



While changing station from Fort Walla Walla, Washington, to Fort Klamath, 

 Oregon, on June 12, 1882, I met a brood of young birds, accompanied by both 

 parents, in a grove of small pines near the banks of the Des Chutes River, Ore- 

 gon, which had evidently left then nest only a day or two previously, and my 

 men caught two alive. They were of a dark slate-black color, quite unlike the 

 adults. A few miles north of Fort Klamath, on the Crater Lake Mountain, 

 they were very common and I had no difficulty in obtaining all the specimens I 

 wanted. While some of their notes are not as melodious as they might be, the 

 majority are certainly quite pleasing to the ear, and I consider this species a 

 very fair songster. I have listened to them frequently, and have been surprised 

 to find so much musical ability. Like the other members of the genus Perisoreus, 

 the Oregon Jay is a great thief and nothing edible comes amiss; its general 

 habits also are similar. It is a slightly smaller and darker colored bird than the 

 Canada Jay. 



Mr. A. W. Anthony found this species a common winter resident in Wash- 

 ington County, Oregon, and says: "'Fearless' is an appropriate term to use in 

 relation to this bird; it seems utterly devoid of fear. While dressing deer in the 

 thick timber I have been almost covered with Jays flying down from the neigh- 



