CYANOLTCA. 499 



Cyanocorax melatiQcyaneus, Scl. P. Z. S. 1858, p. 359''; Taylor, Ibis, 1860, p. 112'; Schl. Mus. 



P.-B. i. Coraces, p. 45 '. 

 Xanthura melanocyanea, Sharpe, Cat. B, Brit. Mus. iii. p. 134, t. 6 '». 



Vindi-azurea ; uropygio et cauda saturatioribus ; capite toto cum collo et corpore subtus usque ad ventris 

 medium nigerrimis ; corporis subtus reliquo cyanescente ; rostro nigro, pedibus obscure corylinis. Long, 

 tota 12-0, alsB 5-5, caud» 6-5, rostri a rictu 1-4, tarsi 1-6. (Descr. maris ex San Geronimo, Guatemala. 

 Mus. nostr.) 



Hah. Guatemala i ^, Duenas {0. S.% Volcan de Fuego up to 8000 feet, Santa Maria 

 below Quezaltenango, San Geronimo, Tactic, Coban {0. S. & F. D. G.), San Gero- 

 nimo (B. Owen ^) ; Hondueas, between Siguatepeque and Taulevi (Taylor ^ ^) ; 

 Nicaragua, Chdntales (Belt ^). 



This Jay is a characteristic bird throughout the lower portions of the Guatemalan 

 highlands, being found as low as the plain of Salama, and occasionally, but very rarely, 

 as high as 8000 feet in the volcanos : it is, however, very seldom seen at so great an alti- 

 tude, the Jays of that region being Cyanocitta coronata and Cyanolyca pumilo. Near 

 Dueiias, at an altitude of about 5000 feet, it is the only species of Jay ; it is here resident 

 all the year in the wooded parts, breeding in the months of April and May. It makes 

 a loose nest of small twigs, which is placed in a thick bush about six feet from the 

 ground ; the eggs are usually four in number, and are of a brick-red colour, spotted and 

 blotched with a darker shade of the same ^. In Honduras Mr. Taylor only found this 

 species on the elevated plain between Siguatepeque and Taulevi, where, however, they 

 were tolerably common. In Nicaragua we only know of its occurrence from a single 

 specimen obtained by Mr. Belt ^ ; this is darker, as regards the blue colour, than any 

 Guatemalan specimen we have, but does not differ in other respects ; moreover, Guate- 

 malan specimens differ somewhat in this point. 



8. Vertex posticus et nucha albo-ccerulea. 

 5. Cyanolyca ornata. 



Pica ornata, Less. Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 41 \ 



Cyanocorax ornatus, Cass. Pr. Ac. PhU. 1848, p. 89 = ; Scl. P. Z. S. 1857, p. 204'; 1859, p. 365*; 



Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 127'; Perez, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus. viii. p. 153°. 

 Cyanocitta ornata, Bp. Consp. Av. i. p. 379'; Scl. & Salv. Ibis, 1859, p. 21'; Scl. P. Z. S. 1859, 



p. 381°; 1864, p. 175"; Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. N, H. i. p. 554". 



Saturate cyanea j alls et cauda extus dorso imo concoloribus ; dorso medio purpureo tincto ; capite toto cum 

 collo undique nigris ; pUei dimidio postico et nucha argenteo-caeruleis extrorsum albo distincte limbatis ; 

 rostro et pedibus nigris. Long, tota 12-5, alae 5-5, caudse 6-3, rostri a rictu 1-3, tarsi l-l, (Descr. 

 exempl. ex Jalapa, Mexico. Mus. nostr.) 



Hob. Mexico 1 ^ (Pease ^), valley of Mexico (White '^% temperate region of Vera Cruz 

 (Sumichrast "), Jalapa (SalU ^ de Oca S Perez % Teotalcingo (JBoucard ^) ; Guate- 

 mala, Cahabon (Skinner % Coban (0.S.& F. D. G.). 



63* 



