The species was first described by Professor Baird, from specimens obtained by Dr. Kennerly, who writes that he first saw this bird among the lofty pines of the Sierra Madre in November, 1853. Leaving that range, he did not meet with it again until his party crossed the Aztec Mountains, in January, 1854, where it was less abundant than when first met with. It was, for the most part, found among the cedars on the high grounds, though occasionally seen among the clumps of large pines that were scattered along the valley. The party did not meet with it again.
Dr. Coues found this species a common and a resident bird in Arizona. It was observed to be almost exclusively an inhabitant of pine woods, and was generally to be met with only in small companies, never congregating in the manner of Woodhouse’s Jay. He describes it as very shy, vigilant, noisy, and tyrannical.
The eggs of C. macrolopha measure 1.30 inches in length and .91 in breadth. Their ground-color is a light sea-green. They are somewhat sparingly spotted with fine markings of dark olive-brown, and lighter cloudings of a purplish or violet brown. They are oblong oval in shape, obtuse at either end, but more tapering at one end. They appear to be a little larger than the eggs of stelleri, and the ground-color is brighter, and the markings deeper and more of an olive hue.
Genus CYANOCITTA, Strickland.
Cyanocitta, Strickland, Annals and Mag. N. H. XV, 1845, 260. (Type, Garrulus californicus, Vigors.)
Aphelocoma, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 221. (Same type.)
Char. Head without crest. Wings and tail blue, without any bands. Back usually with a gray patch, different from the head. Bill about as broad as high at the base, and the culmen a little shorter than the head. Nostrils large, nearly circular, and concealed. Tail nearly equal to the wings, lengthened, graduated, or else shorter and nearly even.
This genus is readily distinguished from the preceding by the entire absence of crest and of black bars on the blue of wings and tail. The species and races hitherto described will be found detailed in the accompanying synopsis. The characters indicated above are of no very great generic value, but as the group is a very natural one it will be as well to retain it. As in Cyanura, the species are peculiar to the United States and Mexico, one indeed being apparently confined to the Peninsula of Florida.
Cyanocitta californica.
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