CORVID^ — GARBULIN^ : JAYS. 
425 
and small trees, bulky, of twigs with finer lining; eggs usually 3-4, 1.10 X 0.80, greenish- 
drab, marked as usual with browns. 
114. PERISO'REUS. (Gr. 7reptcra)peua>, perisoreuo, I heap up; probably in allusion to the 
hoarding or thievish propensities of jays.) Gray Jays. Not crested. Plumage soft, full and 
lax, grayish or sooty. Bill very short, not deep but wide at base ; culmen little curved ; 
gonys ascending. Wings and tail of approximately equal lengths; latter graduated. A 
circumpolar and boreal or alpine genus, of one species in America, with several varieties. 
Analysis of Varieties. 
Dark hood moderate ; forehead white ; back brownish-gray, streaked canadensis 359 
Dark hood extensive ; foreliead smoky ; back brownish-gray, unstreaked fumifrons 360 
Dark hood extensive ; foreliead whitish ; back brownish, with white sliaft-lines ....... obscurus 361 
Dark hood restricted; forehead extensively white ; back ashy-gray, unstreaked capitalis 362 
359. P. canaden'sis. (Of Canada. Fig. 276.) Canada Jay. Whiskey Jack. Moose- 
bird. Gray, whitening on head, neck, and breast ; a dark cap on hind head and nape, sep- 
arated by a gray cervical collar from the ashy-plumbeous back ; wings and tail plumbeous, 
the feathers obscurely tipped with whitish. Bill and feet black. Young : Much darker, 
sooty or smoky-brown; the bleaching progresses indefinitely with age. Length 10.00- 
11.00 ; extent about 16.00 ; wing 5.25- 
5.75 ; tail rather more, graduated; tar- 
sus 1.33 ; bill under 1, shaped like a 
titmouse's. Arctic Am. into the N. 
States, N. W. to Alaska ; breeds in 
Maine and northward ; resident, and 
seldom seen south of its breeding range. 
The Wisskachon " (whence 'Svhisk- 
I ey John" and then ''whiskey Jack") 
is noted for the familiarity and impu- 
dence with which it hangs about the 
hunter's camp to steal provisions, for 
consorting with moose, and for nesting 
1 in winter or early spring. Nest usually 
on the bough of a spruce or other coni- ^i^^- 276. - Canada Jay, reduced. (Sheppard del. Nichols sc.) 
fer, a large substantial structure, of twigs, grasses, mosses, and feathers ; eggs 3-4, 1.20 X 
0.85, yellowish-gray to pale green, finely dotted and blotched with brown and slate, or lavender, 
especially about the larger end ; others more uniformly and largely blotched ; variation wide, 
as in other jays. 
360. P. c. fu'mifrons. (Lat. fumus, smoke ; frons, forehead.) Alaskan Jay. Smutty-nosed 
Jay. Similar : coloration darker and dingier throughout ; white of forehead obscured or oblit- 
erated by smoky-gray. Coast region of Alaska. 
i361. P. c. obscu'rus. (Lat. obscurus, obscure.) Oregon Jay. More different: dark hood 
encroaching on crown, not well defined ; upper parts umber-brownisli rather than plumbeous, 
the feathers with white shaft-lines ; tail not distinctly tipped with whitish. Pacific coast 
region, Oregon to Sitka. 
362. P. c. capitalis. (Lat. capitalis, capital, relating to the head, caput.) Rocky Mountain 
Jay. General color ashy-plumbeous, or leaden-gray, paler below ; wings and tail blackish, 
with a peculiar glaucous shade, as if frosted or silvered over. The body-color giving way on 
the breast and neck to whitish, established as hoary-white on the head, isolating the narrow 
well-defined nuchal band of sooty-gray. No white lines on back ; tail-feathers distinctly tipped 
with whitish, and much edging of the same on the wings. The clearer colors generally — back 
rather bluish-gray than brownish-gray, very white head with narrow nuchal band — produce 
I 
