Jay, belonging to the wooded regions of the interior, but the shrill cries of this species 

 are even more piercing." 



Nests and eggs are not different from those of the foregoing. 



DESCRIPTION: "Lower tail-coverts, white, or else very slightly tinged with blue. Sides of head, blackish, 

 with little, if any, blue tinge; breast, grayish- white or very pale grayish, like belly; back and sca- 

 pulars, brownish-gray, without blue tinge. Sides of chest, bright blue, the middle portion streaked 

 with blue; white superciliary stripe very distinct." (Ridgway, "Manual," p. 356.) 



GREEN JAY. 



Xanthoura laxuosa Bonaparte. 

 Plate XXXII. Pig 5. 



Like all its congeners, the Green Jay is an exceedingly cunning marauder, thief 

 and murderer. It is an inhabitant of the lower Rio Grande region and thence south- 

 w^ard to Vera Cruz and Puebla, Mexico. Mr. Geo. B. Sennett met with it abundantly 

 near Hidalgo, Texas. "They are most frequently seen," he says, "during the breeding 

 season in the densest woods and thickets, but at other times they are common visitors 

 of the camp, the ranche, and the huts in the outskirts of towns, to the annoyance of 

 all on account of their thieving propensities." 



The first nest was found by Mr. Sennett on April 28, in a mesquit tree in a 

 thicket not far from the river bank. It was placed in a fork about fifteen feet from the 

 ground, and "was composed of sticks lined with fine stems, and a rather bulky affair." 

 The bird is known by the Mexicans as the Pdjaro verde. On April 30 he flushed a 

 Red-billed Pigeon {Columba Eavirostris) from its nest, and a Green Jay also flew from 

 its nest. "The nest of the Jay was some nine feet from the ground on the outer 

 branches of a small tree, and composed wholly of sticks and fine twigs. The sticks 

 were so full of thorns that when they were crossed about among the lining branches 

 more firmness -was given to the nest than usual, and by cutting off the branches I could 

 readily take it entire." The ground-color of the eggs is "light drab, tinged faintly with 

 green. . . . The markings are brown," and sometimes the egg is "distinctly spotted or 

 speckled or streaked, and sometimes quite indistinct and clouded. The larger end has 

 generally the heaviest markings." 



NAMES: Green Jay, Rio Grande Jay. — Pdjaro verde (Mexicans). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Gamilus laxuosa Lesson (1839). Cyaaocorax luxuosa Du Bus (1848). XAN- 

 THOURA LUXUOSA Bonaparte (1850). Xantboura incas r&r. laxuosa Bonap. 



DESCRIPTION: "Above, green; beneath, yellow, glossed continuously with green; inside of wings and outer 

 four tail-feathers, straw-yellow; rest of tail-feathers, green, glossed with blue. Sides of head, and 

 beneath from the bill to the forepart of breast, velvet-black. Crown, nape, and a short maxillary 

 stripe running up to the eye and involving the upper eyelid, brilliant blue; the nostril-feathers rather 

 darker; the .sides of the forehead, whitish. Bill, black; legs, lead-color. 

 . "Length, 11.00 inches; wing, 4.75; tail, 5.40 inches." (B. B. & R. II, p. 295.) 



