GABBULUS MINOE. 



(AFRICAN JAY.) 



Garrulus minor, Verreaux, Eev. et Mag. de Zool. 1857, p. 439, pi. xiv. 

 Garrulus glandarius, Sharpe & Dresser, Birds of Eur. iii. p. 481 (1873, partim). 



Djirire, Arabic ; Derraz, Moorish (fide Loche). 



Figura unica. 

 Verreaux, ut supra. 



Cinereo-vinaceus : pileo albo, plurais elongatis, medio nigris nee fasciolatis : macula mystacali nigra, : gula, 

 jugulo, abdomine postico tectricibusque caudalibus candidis : alis caudaque nigris : tectricibus minoribus 

 cseruleo, albo nigroque obsolete fasciatis : speculo alarum longitudinali niveo. (Verreaux.) 



Adult (Algiers). Resembles Garrulus glandarius, but is smaller in size, and bas the bead and neck vinous- 

 red, and the back grey, and the feathers on the crown are considerably blacker than in G. glandarius : 

 beak blackish brown ; iris pale blue ; feet and legs light reddish brown. Total length about 12 inches, 

 culmen IT, wing 6'8, tail 6'0, tarsus 1-65. 



When we wrote the article on Garrulus glandarius in the ' Birds of Europe ' we considered that 

 this bird was not specifically separable from our European Jay, but since then I have examined 

 specimens from Algeria and Morocco, and find that it is a fairly separable geographical race, and 

 that Verreaux was quite justified in describing it as a distinct species. As yet but little is known 

 respecting this Jay, and specimens are very rare in collections. Canon Tristram does not appear 

 to have met with it in Algeria; but Loche (Expl. Scient. Alg., Ois. p. 122) says that he found it 

 much rarer than G. cervicalis, and he only met with it in the southern portion of the Province of 

 Algiers. Nor does Favier appear to have met with it near Tangier, but there is a specimen in 

 the British Museum obtained near that town by Capt. Savile B.eid. 



So far as I can ascertain, nothing has been placed on record respecting the habits and 

 nidification of the present species, but we may take it for granted that it does not appreciably 

 differ in these respects from our common European Jay. 



As the differences between Garrulus minor and G. glandarius are easily perceptible from 

 the description, I have not deemed it necessary to give a figure of the present species. 



I do not possess a specimen in my own collection, and the above description is taken from 

 one in the British Museum. 



In the preparation of the above article I have examined the following specimens : — 



E Mus. Brit, 

 a. Algiers (Lefevre). b. Tangier, February 25th, 1883 {Capt. Savile Reid). 



2m 2 



