422 SYSTEM A TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



this sooty color passing insensibly on the rump and breast into dull blue. Wings and tail 

 richer blue, crossed with nnmerous Idack bars, not on the secondary coverts. 15111 and feet 

 black. Young more fuliginous, the wing-bars faint if not wanting. Size of the Eastern jay, 

 or rather larger. Pacific; coast region, Oregon to Alaska, E. to the Rocky Mts., where inoscu- 

 lating with C. s. mucrolopJia. Tliis is the typical form, with little or no blue, no whitish on 

 head, and unbaiTed wing-coverts ; running through annectens, frontalis, and macrolopha into 

 some very different Mexican forms. Habits, nest, and eggs as described under macrolopha. 



351. C. 9. annec'tens. (Lat. annectens, annexing.) Black-headed Jay. This name has been 

 given to specimens directly connecting stelleri and macrolopha. General tone of the former ; 

 quite blackish, short-crested, witli i)lain wing-coverts; but blue fi-ontal streaks and whitish 

 eye-patch of the latter. N. Rocky Mts., U. S. 



353 C. s. fronta'lis. (Lat. frontalis, pertaining to frons, the forehead.) Blue-fronted Jay. 

 Sierra Jay. An offset from stelleri ; the sooty color rather brownish than blackish ; the blue 

 of different shade on body from the deep indigo on wings and tail ; whole crest glossed with 

 bluish, and conspicuous blue streaks on forehead ; no whitish eye-patches ; wing-coverts 

 obsoletely or not barred. Sierras Nevadas of California. 



352. C. s. macro'lopha. (Gr. p-aKpoi, malvros, long ; \orf>o9, lophos, crest. Fig. 275.) LoNG- 

 CRESTED Jay. Better marked tlian tlie connecting links. $9'- Upper parts sooty uniber- 



browTi, with a faint blue 

 tinge, blackening on 

 head and neck all 

 around in decided con- 

 trast, passing on rump 

 and upper tail-coverts 

 into beautiful light co- 

 balt-blue ; passing on 

 fore breast into the 

 same blue which occu- 

 pies all the under parts. 

 Crest black, but faced 

 on forehead with blnisli- 

 white, which, when tlie 

 Fio. 275. — Long-crested Jay, n at. size. (Ad nat. del. E.G.) feathers are not dis- 



turbed, runs in two parallel lines from the nostrils upward — these colored tips of the feathers of 

 firmer te.xture than their basal portions. One or both eyelids patclied with white. Chin ab- 

 ruptly vphitish, streaky. E.xposed surfaces of wings rich indigo-blue, most intense on the 

 inner secondaries, which, with the greater coverts, are regularly and firmly barred across both 

 vi'ebs witli l)]ack ; the outer webs (if tlie primaries lighter blue, more like tliat of the rump or 

 under ])arts. Upper surface of tail ricli indigo, like the secondaries, and similarly black-barred; 

 these bands most distinct towards the ends and on the outer webs of the feathers ; tail viewed 

 from below appearing mostly blackish. Iris dark. Bill and feet black. Length 12.00-13.00; 

 extent 17.00-19.00; wing .5.50-6.50; tail the same; bill 1.13; tarsus 1.50; middle toe and 

 claw l.S.'-l. Sexes quite alike, but 9 at the lesser dimensions given. Crest longer than in 

 northern stelleri, sometimes il.OO. Young: Much more sooty; below entirely fuliginous, with 

 the future blue indicated by an ashy nr grayisli sluule. Wings and tail nearly as bright blue as 

 in the adult, but the black bars faint or wanting. Crest shorter, not ([uite black, not faced with 

 blue, and no white abnut eyes. This form melts into C diademata of Mexico, which is 

 bluer; and this is lu^u- the quite blue C. coronata. Rocky Mt. region, U. S., especially 

 southerly; a common l)iril of the pine belt, displaying in marked degree the notorious attributes 

 fif its genus, or giiiins. Xest i:i ticcs and bushes, usually concealed with art, though bulky, 



