The Steller Jays 



Auk, vol. ii., 1885, 217 (nesting in holes) ; Bendire, Life Hist. N. Amer. Birds, vol. ii., 

 1895, pp. 365-367 (habits, nest and eggs); Sampson, Condor, vol. iii., 1901, p. 37 (at 

 Stockton); Fisher, W. K., Condor, vol. iv., 1902, pp. 41-44 (critical; range); Mailliard, 

 Condor, vol. x., 1908, p. 134 (range in Sonoma Co.). 



No. 10b Coast Jay 



A. O. U. No. 478c Cyanocitta stelleri carbonacea Grinnell. 



Synonyms. — Grinnell's Jay. "Blue Jay," etc. 



Description. — Similar to C. s. frontalis, but darker throughout, and with re- 

 duction of frontal streaking; back and scapulars blackish brown, scarcely different 

 from chest; belly jay-blue; rump king's blue; size not appreciably different. 



Nesting. — Nest: Much as in preceding form, save that coarse rootlets are in- 

 wardly employed as lining; often placed in deciduous saplings, especially tanbark 

 oak. Eggs: 2-4, colored as in preceding race. Season: April 20-May 20; one brood 



Range of C. s. carbonacea. — Resident in the humid coastal strip from southern 

 Oregon south to the Santa Lucia Mountains of California. Intergrades with A. fronta- 

 lis at western bases of inner coastal ranges, but distinctive characters apparently fail 

 along the coast of northern Sonoma County. Relationships in southern portion of 

 range not exactly defined. 



Authorities. — Newberry, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv., vol. vi., pt. 4, 1857, p. 85; 

 Bendire, Life Hist. N. Am. Birds, vol. ii., 1895, pp. 365-367, pi. v. (fig. 10) (habits, 

 nest and eggs); Mailliard, J., Condor, vol. ii., 1900, p. 58 and p. 126 (habits); Grinnell, 

 Condor, vol. ii., 1900, p. 127 (desc. of carbonacea); Fisher, W. K., Condor, vol. iv., 

 1902, pp. 41-44. map (crit.; range); Ray, Condor, vol. xi., 1909, pp. 18-19 (habits); 

 Beat, Biol. Surv. Bull. no. 34, 1910, pp. 47-49 (part) (food). 



"OFFICER! arrest that bird!" It is Mountain Chickadee who 

 enters complaint against a culprit Screech Owl blinking in the inadequate 

 shade of a fir sapling. And it is Sergeant Steller Jay, one of the finest, 

 who makes instant response, leading the attack upon the offender, buffet- 

 ting, upbraiding, driving him from cover to cover, until his proper hidey- 

 hole is reached. And Arragh! What excited talk will follow! Corporal 

 Flicker, who has lumbered up, full of curiosity, must hear all about it; 

 and so must the Cassin Vireos, who, as everybody knows, are the world's 

 great busy-bodies. Officer Jay is in his element, but he moves off import- 

 antly, before the little fellows are half satisfied, announcing, as he does 

 so, that he must look after the movements of the Mountain Lion, who is 

 due on his beat that day; but saying in an aside, "It doesn't do to let 

 the small fry get too familiar." 



And it is a true word which says, "It takes a thief to catch a thief. " 

 For, to do him justice, it is usually the Steller Jay who is first to make 

 discovery and outcry if there is any mischief afoot in the woods. Time 

 and again we have had our attention called to the presence of deer or 

 foxes or Horned Owls, which would entirely have escaped our notice 



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