COR VIBj^ — GA Eli ULINJE : J A YS. 



421 



as much of a rascal. The nest is pkiced in thick shrubbery, as big as a bushel, bristling witli 

 a chevaux-de-frise outside, with a lateral covered way leading to the nest within. Eggs fi-9, 

 1.20 to 1.40 long by 0.90 to 1.00 broad, pale drab, dotted, dashed, and blotched with [nu'iilish- 

 brown. 



348. P. nut'taUi. (To Thos. Nuttall.) Yellow-billed Magpie. Bill and Inire space alicmt 

 eye yellow. Otherwise, precisely like the last, of which it is a perpetuated accident! The 

 European magpie sometimes shows the same thing, and in some other species, hke P. i/wrio, 

 the hill is indifferently black or yellow. California, common. 



111. CYANOCIT'TA. (Gr. Kvavos, kuanos, blue; ki'tto, kitta, a. jay.) Crested Blue Jays. 

 Cmispicuously crested; wings and tail blue, black-barred; bill and feet black. Length 11,00- 

 12.00 ; wing or tail 5.00-6.00. Nostrils large, sulicircular, but ccjncealed. Wings and tail of 

 equal lengths, bfjth rounded. Hind claw large, equalling or exceeding its digit in length. 

 There are two species of this beautiful genus, one light blue and white. Eastern, standing 

 (piite alone ; the other dusky-bodied. Western, running into several varieties. 



Analysis of Sp(-cif;s and Varieties. 



Purplish-blue, whitening below, with a black collar crisfata .349 



Sooty -brownish or -blackish, bluing on body behind, wings and tail ; the latter black-barred. 



Sooty-blackish ; little if any blue on forehead; none about eye; wing-coverts unbarred . . stei/eri .35it 



Sooty-blackish; but blue on forehead and above eye ; wing-coverts unbarred anncc/<_t/s ."51 



Sooty-brownish, blue on forehead; little if any blue about eye ; wing-coverts unbarred . . frontalis ojj 

 Sooty-brownish, the crest quite black. Bluish-white streaks on forehead and about eye; wijig- 

 coverts black-barred macrolojjha 352 



349. C. crista'ta. (Lat. cristata, crested. Fig. 271.) Blue Jay. ^ : Purplish-blue, below pale 

 purplish - gray, whitening on 



throat, belly, and crissum. A 

 black collar across lower thro it 

 and up the sides of the neck and 

 head behind the crest ; a bla( k 

 frontlet bordered with whitish 

 Wings and tail pure rich bhu , 

 * with black bars, the great ci 

 coverts, secondaries, and tail 

 feathers, except the central, 

 broadly tipped with pure white 

 tail much rounded, the gradua- 

 tion over an inch. Length 

 11.00-12.00 ; extent 16.00- 

 17.50; "ndng and taU, each, 

 5.00-6.00 ; bill 1.25 ; tarsus 

 1.35. 9 similar, not so richly 

 blue : smaller. There is much 

 difference in size between north- ^"^- 271 —Blue Jay, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 



em and southern bred birds, as in the Agelceus. Florida specimens are particularly small, the 

 bill relatively larger, the crest less, the white on wings and tail restricted; as worthy as 

 some other Floridan races to be named (C. c. florincola, N.). Eastern N. A., especially U. S. 

 but N. to Hudson's Bay; W. to the central plains; a very abundant resident or half-migratory 

 bird, breeding throughout its range ; a well-known character ! Nest in trees and bushes, or 

 any odd nook, large and substantial; eggs 5-6 in number, 1.00 to 1.20 long by 0.80 to 0.90 

 broad, drab-colored with brown spots. 

 350. C. stel'leri. (To G. W. Steller.) Steller's Jay. $ ? : Whole head, neck, and back sooty 

 blackish, little if any lighter on throat, and with little if any blue on forehead or about eyes : 



