CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. 
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Nest. — A loosely constructed mass of thorn brush lined with finer mate¬ 
rials. Eggs: greenish blue, heavily spotted with brown and lavender, 
especially at larger end. 
480.2. Aphelocoma texana Bidgw. Texan Jay. 
Like cyanotis, but white superciliary more distinct, under parts paler and 
browner gray, lower throat and chest with obsolete grayish streaks instead 
of blue streaks. 
Bemarks. — Texana differs from woodhouseii in obsolete streakings of 
chest, paler, browner breast, and white under tail coverts. 
Distribution. — Southwestern Texas, from Concho and Kerr counties west 
to the Davis Mountains. 
481. Aphelocoma californica ( Vig .). California Jay. 
Adults. — Upper parts blue except for brownish back and scapulars ; 
under parts white except for bluish streaking on throat and partial blue 
and brownish necklace; white superciliary clearly defined ; sides of head 
blackish. Young: head only tinged with blue, nearly uniform with brown¬ 
ish back ; throat white, unstreaked ; chest washed with brownish gray ; belly 
whitish. Length : 11.50-12.25, wing 4.70-5.20, tail 5.45-G.10, bill .87-1.03. 
Bemarks. — Calif ornica and woodhouseii are easily told apart, as cali- 
f ornica is whitish instead of brownish gray below, and brown instead of 
grayish on back. 
Distribution. — Pacific coast region from the Columbia River southward, 
including both slopes of the Cascades and Sierra Nevada, to northern Lower 
California. 
Nest. — Interlaced twigs, mixed sometimes with moss, stubble, and grass, 
surrounding an inner nest of fine roots sometimes mixed with horsehair ; 
placed usually in low bushes, but also in trees 3 to 30 feet from the ground, 
generally not far from water. Eggs : 3 to 6, buffy or green, varying 
greatly in shade, the buffy ones spotted and blotched with brown, the 
green with markings generally scattered over the entire surface. 
Food. — Bird’s eggs, insects, acorns, pine nuts, wild fruits, and berries; 
also, about settlements, hens’ eggs and grain. 
In coming down the Sierra Nevada you sometimes find that the 
range of the blue-fronted is overlapped by that of the California jay; 
but in the main you see the dark-crested frontalis sailing down 
from the fir-tops, and hear the light-colored, flat-headed California 
jays squawking through the digger pines and chaparral of the low 
country, where the valley quail has replaced the mountain quail. 
‘Blue squawkers’ the birds are called locally, and the name seems 
most appropriate when the hot thick air over the oaks and chaparral 
is vibrating with their cries. The Aphelocoma voice differs strikingly 
from that of frontalis, having a flat tone and being uttered with un¬ 
seemly haste. Its notes vary greatly in expression and are so em¬ 
phatic and often peremptory that one cannot doubt that something 
important is being said. A favorite cry, used apparently to rouse 
attention, is a quick “ quay-quay-quay quay quay-quay-quay.” An¬ 
other still more emphatic one is boy -ee boy'-ee, while an inquiring 
quay-keel is often heard. Sometimes when a jay flies down to a 
