BIRDS OF NORTH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 365 



brownish, the rectrices indistinctly (though sometimes broadly) tipped 

 with whitish; lower parts plain grayish or whitish; young entirely 

 plain dusky, varying from a slaty to a brownish hue, the crown and 

 malar region sometimes whitish. 



Nidification. — Nest in coniferous trees, open above, bulky, com- 

 posed of dry twigs, strips of bark, plant fibers, etc., lined with softer 

 inaterials, including feathers. Eggs 3-4, pale gray or grayish white, 

 speckled with brown, gray, and lavender. 



Range. — Northern coniferous forests of the Palsearctic and Nearctic 

 Rfsgions (south in high mountains of western United States almost 

 to the Mexican boundary). (Three species, two exclusively North 

 American, one Palsearctic.) 



KEY TO THE SPECIES AND SUBSPECIES OF PERISOKEUS. 



a. Abdomen and under tail-coverta light tawny or tawny-ochraceous; greater and 

 primary wing-coverts partly cinnamon-rufous. (Northern Europe and Asia.) 



Perisoreus infaustns (extralimital) « 

 aa. No tawny or rufous in the plumage. (North American species. ) 

 6. Forehead, sides of head, throat, and chest whitish. (Adults. ) 

 c. Feathers of back without distinct paler shaft-streaks; breast, belly, etc., deep 

 grayish, much darker than white or whitish of throat and chest. {Perisoreus 

 canadensis. ) 

 d. Hindneck blackish or blackish slate, this color invading the occiput to at 

 least the middle portion, and laterally extended broadly to and surround- 

 ing the eye; general coloration darker. 

 e. At least the fore part of crown distinctly white; gray of vipper and under 

 parts less brownish. 

 /. Dusky area of hindneck, etc., more slaty, at least anteriorly, and crown 

 more extensively white; under tail-coverts white, or nearly so; gen- 

 eral coloration not so dark. (New Brunswick, Maine, northern New 

 York, etc., to South Dakota, Alberta, and north to Mackenzie.) 



Perisoreus canadensis canadensis (p. 366) 

 ff. Dusky area of hindneck, etc., more blackish; crown less extensively 

 white; under tail-coverts deep brownish gray; general coloration 

 darker. (Labrador, north to Davis Inlet.) 



Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus, adults (p. 368) 

 ee. Crown grayish anteriorly, dusky posteriorly, only the forehead being 

 white or whitish; gray of upper and under parts more brownish. 

 (Alaska, north and west of Cook Inlet. ) 



Perisoreus canadensis fumifrons, adults (p. 369) 

 dd. Hindneck gray, or if inclining to blackish this color restricted to the hind- 

 neck, the whole crown, to the occiput, being white; the gray scarcely, 

 if at all, extending laterally to the eyes; general coloration paler. 

 (Eocky Mountain district, from eastern British Columbia, Washington 

 and Oregon, Idaho, and Montana to New Mexico and Arizona. ) 



Perisoreus canadensis capitalis, adults (p. 370) 

 cc. Feathers of back with distinct paler shaft-streaks; breast, belly, etc., very 

 pale gray or grayish white, little if any darker than color of throat and 

 chest. (Perisoreus obscurus.) 



aCorvus infaustns Linnseus, Syst. Nat., ed. 10, i, 1758, 107. — Perisoreus infaustus 

 Bonaparte, Geog. and Gomp. List, 1838, 27. 



