324 FLORIDA JAY. 



the top, when he is off with a scream that makes the woods echo his triumph and 

 disdain. It is of no use to follow when he is thorougly alarmed. But on some other 

 occasion he may be inclined to take another peep, for his curiosity is great, and thus 

 expose himself through a rift in the foliage. . . . 



"The egg of Steller's Jay is pale, dull bluish-green, more or less thickly, but usually 

 quite uniformly, sprinkled all over with small olive-brown and clearer brown spots. 

 Size, 1.25 by 0.85, to 1.35 by 0.90." 



NAMES OP TYPE: Steller's Jay, Mountain Jaj-. 



SCIENTIPIC NAMES: Corvus stelleri Gmelin (1788). GArrulus stclleri Yieill. (1817). Cyanurus stelleri 

 Swains. (1831). CYANOCITTA STELLERI Cab. (1851). 



DESCRIPTION: "Head and neck all round, and forepart of breast, dark brownish-black. Back and lesser 

 wing-coverts, blackish-brown, the scapulars glossed with blue. Uudcr-parts, rump, tail-coverts, and 

 wings, greenish-blue ; exposed surfaces of lesser quills, dark . indigo-blue ; tertials and ends of tail- 

 feathers, rather obsoletely banded with black. Feathers of the forehead, streaked with greenish-blue. 



"Length, about 13.06 inches; wing, 5.85; tail, 5.85 inches." (B. B. & R. II, p. 277.) 



The varieties vary more or less in color. 



FLORIDA JAY. 



Apbelocoma Soridana Cabanis. 



The Florida Jay is a bird of the scrub composed of dwarf and willow oaks. It is 

 a bird quite local in distribution. Mr. C. J. Maynard found it common at Blue Springs, 

 where it occupied a belt of country some forty -five miles wide. He also met with it on 

 the east side of Ifadian River, as far south at least as Merritt's Island, "but the strong- 

 hold of these birds is in the high scrub lands of the western coast, w^here they fairly 

 swarm." 



This Jay breeds in communities in the scrub. They lay quite late in the season 

 and at that time are very assiduous in guarding the locality which they have chosen as 

 a home. At times they are said to become very familiar, approaching the houses on 

 the edges of settlements in order to pick up bones, which are thrown about or will even 

 venture to eat the meat hung close to the hunter's camp. The nest is a rather flat 

 structure, composed of small dry sticks, leaves and rootlets, lined with moss and fibers 

 and often with wool and feathers. The eggs, usually four to five in number, are of a 

 light blue or greenish ground-color, speckled sparinglj"^ with rufous or black ; the spots 

 are most numerous on the larger end. 



Like all its congenei's the Florida Jay is a great robber and freebooter, diminishing 



the exceedingly poor avi-fauna of Florida by its robbery still more. 



DESCRIPTION: "Above, blue, including scapulars; interscapular region and back, brownish-ash, the former 

 lighter. Forehead and sides of crown, hoary white. Sides of head and neck, blue ; the former tinged 

 with blackish, the latter sending a streaked collar of the same entirely across the breast; region 

 anterior to this collar, dirty white, streaked on the edges of the feathers with blue; rest of under-parts, 

 dirty whitish-brown ; under tail-coverts, blue, the tibia tinged with the same. ' 

 "Length, 11.00 inches; wing, 4.50; tail, 5.70 inches." (B. B. & R. II, p. 285.) 



