49: 



GAERULITS CERVICALIS. 



(ALGERIAN BLACK-HEADED JAY.) 



Garrulus cervicalis, Bonap. Comp. Rend, de l'Acad. des Sc. vol. xxxvii. p. 828 (1853). 

 Garrulus melanocephalus, Malh. Bull. Soc. Nat. Hist, de la Moselle, p. 19 (nee Gene, 1855). 

 Garrulus atricapillus, Levaill. jun., Expl. Scient. de l'Alg. pi. 6 (nee Is. Geoff., 1855). 

 Garrulus cervicalis (Bp.), Loche, Expl. Scient. de l'Alg. p. 120 (1867). 



Figurce notabiles. 

 Levaillant, jun., loc. cit. ; Bree, B. of Eur. vol. i. p. 144. 



Ad. Garrulo atricapillo persimilis, sed nucha conspicue ferruginea et fronte nigro punctata facile distinguendus 



Juv. adulto similis, sed paullo sordidior : nucha, sordide ferruginea. 



Adult Female (Northern Africa) . Forehead white, spotted with black ; crown covered with a thick black 

 crest, the feathers of which towards the nape are washed with rufous ; nape and fore part of the back 

 rich rusty red; back pale greyish, slightly washed with faint rufous buff; upper tail-coverts white; 

 tail dark grey, at the base barred with black, otherwise plain black; wings as in the Common Jay; 

 face, auriculars, and throat pure white; moustachial patch thick and jet-black in colour; underparts 

 pale buffy white; flanks and under wing-coverts rufous buff; soft parts as in the Common Jay. Total 

 length 14 inches, culmen l - 3, wing 7, tail 6, tarsus 16. 



Adult Male. Similar to the female. 



Young. Similar to the adult, but duller in colour, and having the rufous nape less defined, and the crest 

 smaller. 



This clearly distinct Jay, easily recognizable by its rich rufous nape, inhabits a comparatively 

 limited area, being met with merely in North-western Africa, where the various travellers who 

 have explored Algeria have found it by no means uncommon. Canon Tristram met with it in 

 Eastern Algeria, and captured an example near Bou Hadjar. Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., observed 

 it near Tibremt and Medea, and often saw them in cages ; and Mr. Osbert Salvin " saw it on 

 several occasions near Souk Harras, but lost sight of it on passing to the less wooded country." 

 Mr. Taczanowski found it tolerably numerous in the mountain-groves in the province of Con- 

 stantine, and states that it is shy, and not so noisy as the Common European Jay. " I have," 

 he says, " met with it always in small parties, consisting of several individuals. Their habits 

 are the same as those of the European Jay ; they keep a certain distance one from the other, and 

 advance in a similar manner, singly, moving in the same direction ; they are timid and cautious, 

 but are not noisy, and are therefore considered scarcer than they really are." According to 

 Loche, " it especially affects the mountainous districts well wooded with oak. To Europeans it is 

 known as the Geai a calotte. It feeds principally on acorns and fruit, of which it is fond, and 



