107 
STELLER’S JAY. 
Garrulus Stelleri, Gmel. 
PLATE COXXX.— Adult. 
Of this Jay, discovered by Steller, whose name it bears, Dr. Richard- 
son states that it “ is not uncommon in the summer time on the Pacific 
coast of America, from the mouth of the Columbia to the 56th parallel. 
It also frequents the Rocky Mountains, where Mr. Drummond procured a 
specimen. In its manner it greatly resembles the Garrulus cristatus.” Mr. 
Nuttall’s account of it is as follows : 
“We first observed this bird in our western route in the Blue Mountains 
of the Columbia, east of Wallah Wallah. Here they were scarce and shy, 
but we met them in sufficient abundance in the majestic pine forests of the 
Columbia, where, in autumn, their loud and trumpeting clangour was heard 
at all hours of the day, calling out djay, djay, and sometimes chattering and 
uttering a variety of other notes scarcely recognisable as distinct from the 
calls of our common Blue Jay. They are, however, far more bold, irritable, 
and familiar. Watchful as dogs, a stranger no sooner shews himself in their 
vicinity than they neglect all other employment to come round, follow, peep 
at and scold him, sometimes with such pertinacity and irritability as to 
provoke the sportsman intent on other game to level his gun against them 
in mere retaliation. At other times, stimulated by mere curiosity, they will 
be observed to follow you in perfect silence, until something arouses their 
ready ire, when the djay, djay, pay, pay, is poured upon you without 
intermission, till you are beyond their view. So intent are they on vocife- 
rating, th^t it is not uncommon to hear them busily scolding even while 
engaged with a large acorn in the mouth. Of their geographical limits we 
are as yet uncertain. They were first found by Steller at Nootka ; but 
they do not extend into upper California, and scarcely to the west as far 
as the most western of the true Rocky Mountain Chains. They feed on 
insects, acorns, and the seeds of the gigantic pines which form a belt along 
the Pacific and the rivers of the Oregon Territory. In the month of May, 
I found a nest of this species in a small sapling of Douglas’s Fir, on the 
borders of a dark and dense forest, and again some time after a second nest 
with young, in an elevated branch of the same pine, on the border of a rocky 
cliff. On approaching the nest, which contained four eggs, of a pale green 
