In the other section of the genus the relation between arizonæ and sordida is a parallel to that between Cyanura macrolopha and C. coronata; the southern forms (sordida and coronata) differing principally in the greater intensity and prevalence or amount of the blue. The relations of couchi and ultramarina to the two above mentioned are yet obscure, owing to the small material at command,—there being only two specimens of the former, and none of the latter, in the National Museum at Washington.
Cyanocitta floridana, Bonap.
FLORIDA JAY.
Corvus floridanus, Bartram, Travels, 1791, 291.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 444, pl. lxxxvii. Garrulus floridanus, Bon. Am. Orn. II, 1828, 11, pl. xi.—Nuttall, Man. I, 1832, 230.—Aud. Syn. 1839, 154.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 118, pl. ccxxxiii. Cyanurus floridanus, Swainson, F. B. A. II, 1831, 495. Cyanocorax floridanus, Bon. List, 1838. Cyanocitta floridana, Bon. Consp. 1850, 377.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 586.—Allen, B. E. Fla. 298. Aphelocoma floridana, Cabanis, Mus. Hein. 1851, 22. Garrulus cyaneus, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. XII, 1817, 476 (not described). ? Garrulus cærulescens, Vieillot, Nouv. Dict. XII, 1817, 480.—Ord. J. A. N. Sc. I, 1818, 347. Pica cærulescens, Wagler, Syst. Av. 1827, Pica, No. 11.
Sp. Char. Tail much graduated; lateral feathers nearly 1.50 inches shortest. Tail an inch longer than the wings. Above blue, including scapulars; interscapular region and back brownish-ash, the former lighter. Forehead and sides of the crown, including the nasal feathers, hoary white. Sides of head and neck blue; the former tinged with blackish, the latter sending a streaked collar of the same entirely across the breast; region anterior to this collar dirty white, streaked on the edges of the feathers with blue; rest
of under parts dirty whitish-brown; under tail-coverts blue, the tibia tinged with the same. Length, 11.00; wing, 4.50; tail, 5.70; tarsus, 1.45.
Hab. Florida only, and quite local.
Habits. This beautiful species appears to be exclusively confined to the peninsula of Florida, and there is no authentic evidence that it has ever been found outside of the limits of that State. The statement of Bonaparte, that these birds are found in the States of Louisiana and Kentucky, has never been confirmed, and Mr. Audubon, who was for many years a resident of both States and familiar with the birds of each, was very positive the statement was without foundation. It has never been observed even in Georgia or Alabama, and Mr. Nuttall states that it is not found in any part of West Florida.
Mr. Allen, in his recent paper on the winter birds of East Florida, speaking of this species, states that it is numerous in the scrub, but does not appear to frequent the pine woods, the hummocks, or the swamps. He saw none along the St. John’s, except at Blue Springs, but they occur in numbers a few miles back from the river.
Dr. Bryant, in his Notes on the birds of Florida, mentions that this species is tolerably plentiful in the vicinity of Enterprise. He regarded it as exceedingly interesting on account of its limited geographical distribution. With no apparent obstacle to its movements, it is yet confined to a small part of the peninsula of Florida, its area of distribution north and south not exceeding three degrees of latitude, if so much. He saw none north of St. Augustine, and none south of Jupiter’s Inlet. So far as he observed them, they were exclusively confined to the growth of scrub-oak, which in many places is so entangled with creeping plants that it is impossible to walk through without cutting a path. This growth is generally found on elevated ridges running parallel to the sea-coast. The most extensive of these, near Enterprise, is about three miles wide, and eighty feet above the lake.