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This is a very abundant species both about habitations and in low woodlands. They are very bold and familiar, stealing everything they may take a fancy to, and frequently robbing smaller birds of their eggs and young. They are said to be more tame and familiar than the eastern Blue Jay, thereby bringing their bad habits much more frequently to the attention of the ma.s.ses. They nest most often in bushes or low trees, but not as a rule, far above the ground. Their eggs are a bright bluish green color, speckled and spotted with brownish and lavender. Size 1.10 .80.
481a. XANTUS'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica hypoleuca._
Range.--Lower California.
The habits and nests and eggs of this lighter colored variety do not differ from those of the California Jay.
481b. BELDING'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica obscura._
Range.--San Pedro Martir Mts. Lower California.
A darker variety of the California Jay, whose nesting habits will not differ in any essential particular.
481.1. SANTA CRUZ JAY. _Aphelocoma insularis._
Range.--Santa Cruz Island, California.
This species is the largest and darkest colored bird of the genus _Aphelocoma_. It is said to be a very abundant species on the island from which it takes its name, and to have the habits and traits common to all the members of the Jay family. The nesting habits are the same as those of the others, but the eggs are slightly larger, averaging 1.15 .85. Set of three in the collection of John Lewis Childs, taken by R. H.
Beck on May 10, 1897.
482. ARIZONA JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi arizonae._
Range.--Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south into Mexico.
[Ill.u.s.tration 309: Bright bluish green.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: 482--484a--485.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Greenish blue.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: right hand margin.]
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482a. COUCH'S JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi couchi._
Range.--Eastern Mexico, north to western Texas.
483. GREEN JAY. _Xanthoura luxuosa glaucescens._
Range.--Northeastern Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas.
This handsome species has a bright blue crown and patches under the eyes, the rest of the upper parts being greenish; throat and sides of head black, underparts greenish white. This gaudy and noisy bird has all the habits common to other Jays including that of robbing birds' nests.
They build generally in tangled thickets or low bushes, placing their nests at a low elevation and making them of twigs, weeds, moss, etc., lined with fine rootlets. Their four or five eggs, which are laid during April or May, are grayish buff in color, spotted with various shades of brown and lavender gray. Size 1.20 .85.
484. CANADA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis canadensis._
Range.--Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the United States; west to the Rockies.
This is the bird that is well known to hunters of "big game" by various names such as "Whiskey Jack", "Moose Bird", "Camp Robber", etc. During the winter months, owing to the scarcity of food, their thieving propensities are greatly enhanced and they remove everything from the camps, which looks as though it might be edible. Birds of this genus are smoky gray on the back and lighter below, shading to white on the throat; the forehead and part of the crown is white and the nape blackish. Their nests are placed at low elevations in bushes or fir trees, and are usually very different from any of the preceding Jays'
nests. They are nearly as high as wide, and are made of small twigs, moss, catkins, weeds and feathers making a soft spongy ma.s.s which is placed in an upright crotch. The eggs are a yellowish gray color spotted and blotched with brown and grayish. Size 1.15 .80. Data.--Innisfail, Alberta, March 12, 1903. Nest a beautiful structure of twigs, moss and feathers in a willow bush, 6 feet from the ground. The thermometer registered 32 below zero the day the eggs were taken. Collector, W.
Blackwood.
[Ill.u.s.tration 310: Green Jay.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Grayish buff.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Grayish.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Canada Jay.]
[Ill.u.s.tration: left hand margin.]
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484a. ROCKY MOUNTAIN JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis capitalis._
Range.--Rocky Mountains from Montana to Arizona.
This variety has the whole crown white and only a small amount of blackish on the nape. Its nesting habits and eggs are precisely like those of the last.
484b. ALASKA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis fumifrons._
Range.--Alaska.
A very similar bird to the Canada Jay but with the forehead yellowish or duller; the nests and eggs are like those of the others of the genus.
484c. LABRADOR JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis nigricapillus._
Range.--Labrador.
This is a darker variety of the Canada Jay. Its eggs cannot be distinguished from those of any of the others of the genus.
485. Oregon Jay. _Perisoreus obscurus obscurus._
Range.--Mountain ranges from northern California to British Columbia.
These birds are very similar to _canadensis_ but have the whole underparts white. Like the Canada Jays they appear to be wholly fearless and pay little or no attention to the presence of mankind. Their nesting habits and eggs are the same as the preceding except that they have generally been found nesting near the tops of tall fir trees. Size of eggs, 1.05 .80.
[Ill.u.s.tration 311: NEST AND EGGS OF CANADA JAY SHOWING CONSTRUCTION.]
[Ill.u.s.tration right hand margin.]
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[Ill.u.s.tration 312: YOUNG CROWS]
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