BIEDS — COEVIDAE — CYANOCITTA SORDID A. 587 



List of specimens. 



OTANOOITTA SOEDIDA, Baird. 



GarryihiiS sordiius, Swainson, Philos. Mag. I, June, 1827, 437. — Is. Zool. 111. N. S. tab. Ixxxvi. 



Cyanogarrulus aordidus, Eonap. Consp. 1850, 378. 



Aphelocoma sordida, Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 331. 



Pica sieberi, Wagler, Syst. Avium 1827, Pica, No. 23. 



Sp. Ch. — Bill short ; thick ; half as high as long. Wings about as long or but Uttle longer than the tail, which is graduated 

 .85 of an inch. Above and on sides of head and neck bright blue, scarcely duller in the middle of the back. Beneath 

 white ; the throat and breast tinged with very faint bluish, especially across the latter. Tibial feathers dull bluish ash ; crissum 

 white, the tips of posterior feathers very faintly tinged with bluish grey. Length, 13 inches ; wing, 6.60 ; tail, 6.60 ; tarsus, 

 1.65 ; culmen, 1.00; height of bill at base .45. 



Hab — MimbreK ■«gion of Rocky mountains, and south to table lands of Mexico . 



Fourth and fiftli quills longest, sixth little shorter ; second quill a little longer than the 

 secondaries. Tail lengthened, ahout equal to or a little shorter than the wings. Lateral 

 feathers ahout .85 of an inch shorter than the middle. 



This species is very much like the O. ultramarina, having precisely the same coloration, 

 except that the upper surface of the tail is more blue, and the middle of the back more like the 

 rest of the upper surface. The form is, however, very different ; the bill is much thicker at the 

 base and the gonys curved nearly as much as the culmen, instead of much less. The size is 

 larger, and while the wings are nearly the same length, the tail is an inch longer, and is 

 decidedly graduated by almost an inch, instead of not more than one-fourth as much. 



The adult specimen described above is from Mexico, kindly furnished by Mr. Jules Verreaux, 

 the only government skin before me being an immature bird from Fort Webster. This 

 measured when fresh 13 inches; extent, 19 ; wing, 6.50; the tail about the same. The general 

 style of coloration when mature is doubtless that of C. ultramarina, in the continuous blue of 

 the upper surface, slightly duller on the back. The under parts are equally destitute of a 

 pectoral collar or stripes; but the entire anterior half gives promise of being light blue, passing 

 behind into pale ashy blue, more whitish about the anus. It differs from 0. ultramarinus in 

 the more graduated tail, the lateral feathers .75 of an inch shorter, larger size, especially of the 

 tail ; which is equal to the wing instead of shorter. There is more blue on the throat and 

 breast, and a decided tinge of the same behind and under the wings. The lower mandible is 

 yellowish at the base, bluish toward the tip. 



This bird appears to be the same with that described by Swainson as Garrulus sordidus, and 

 by Wagler as Pica sieberi, apparently from the same specimen. I do not understand why the 

 latter name should be preferred by some authors, as the date of publication is the same (1827 ;) 

 while Swainson made his description from the specimen while in Bullock's Museum of Mexican 

 curiosities, before its dispersion, and Wagler after the collection in question had been broken 

 up, and the specimen passed into Mr. Leadbeater's hands. 



