COEVID^, CROWS AND JAYS. GEN. 96, 97. 



163 



%^. 



Var. FLORiDANUs Bd., 5G8, represents the greater relative size of the bill and 

 feet shown by many birds of Florida and corresponding latitudes. 



Var. CAuiuNus Bd., 569 ; Coop., 285, is a smaller race from the Pacific Coast ; 

 maritime ; piscivorous ; voice said to be different. 



Fish Croio. Small; 14-16 inches long; wing 10-11; tail 6-7; tarsus 

 about equal to middle toe alone; a bare space about the gape? South 

 Atlantic and Gulf States, north to New England, common; maritime, 

 piscivorous. Apparently a different bird, as it presents some tangible dis- 

 tinctions, although constantly associated with the last. Wils., v, 27, pi. 

 37, f. 2; NuTT., i, 216; Aud., iv, 94, pi. 226; Bd., 571. . ossifragus. 



96. Genus PICICORVUS Bonaparte. 

 V 5 Clarice's Oroiv. Gray, often bleaching on the head ; wings glossy black, 

 most of the secondaries broadly tipped with white ; tail white, the central 

 feathers black ; bill aud feet black. Aljout 

 a foot long ; wing 7^-8 inches ; tail 4^-5 ; 

 bill If ; nasal feathers very short for this 

 family ; claws very large and much curved. 

 Coniferous belt of the West, N. to Sitka, 

 S. to Mexico, E. to Nebraska, W. to the 

 Coast Range ; the American representa- 

 tive of the European nutcracker, Nucifraga caryocafactes ; abundant, imper- 

 fectly gregarious. Wils., iii, 29, pi. 20 ; Nutt., i, 2d ed. 251 ; Aud., iv, 

 127, pi. 235; Bd., 573; Coop., 289 columbianus. 



Fi(i. 101. Clarke's Crow. 



t^ 



97. Genus GYMNOKITTA Maximilian. 

 - Blue Grow. Dull blue, very variable in intensity, nearly uniform, but 

 brightest on the head, fading on the belly ; the throat with whitish streaks ; 



wings dusky on the inner webs ; bill and feet 

 black ; $ 11-12 ; wing about 6 ; tail about 4 J ; 

 bill Ij^ ; 9 smaller, duller. Eocky Mountain 

 region ; much the same elevated distribution as 

 the last, but apparently rather more southerly ; 

 decidedly gregarious, and very abundant in 

 some places, though still rare in collections. 

 A remarkable bird, combining the form of a crow with the color and rather 

 the habits of a jay, and a peculiarly shaped, slender, lengthened and acute 

 bill ; the antiaj are prominent and somewhat antrorse, but do not hide the 

 nostrils. Cass., 111. 165, pi. 28; Bd., 574; Coop., 292. crANOCEPHALUs. 



Fig. 10.5. Blue Crow. 



Subfamily GARRULINJE. Jays. 



With the wings much shorter than or about equalling the tail, both rounded, the 

 tip of the wing formed by the 4th-7th quills. The feet, as well as the bill, are 

 usually weaker than in the true crows, and the birds are more strictly arboricole, 

 usually advancing by leaps when on the ground, to which they do not habitually 



