This Jay inhabits the Coast Range of mountains to their summit, south of San Francisco, and the Sierra Nevada as far as the oaks extend, or to an elevation of from 1,000 to 5,000 feet. Dr. Cooper saw none on the east side of the Sierra Nevada in latitude 39°.
He describes their flight as slow and laborious, on account of their short wings, and states that they never fly far at a time. He also accuses them of being very destructive to the eggs of smaller birds, hunting for them in the spring, and watching the movements of other birds with great attention.
Mr. Xantus found these birds very abundant at Cape St. Lucas, being, like all the other resident species there, much smaller than those occurring in more northern localities. Their habits are said to be very much the same.
This species was taken in winter near Oaxaca, Mexico, by Mr. Boucard.
Four eggs of this species from different parts of California present the following measurements: 1.20 × 0.85; 1.10 × 0.80; 1.13 × 0.80; 1.05 × 0.80. The measurements given by Dr. Cooper we are confident must be a mistake.
Their ground-color is a bright, but not a dark, emerald-green; and they are marked and blotched with faint purplish-brown, and deeper spots of dark umber. These spots are sparingly distributed, and are chiefly about the larger end. In one they are wholly of a light violet-brown. These eggs are of a perfectly oval shape.
Mr. Charles D. Gibbes, of Stockton, writes that he found in a garden in that city a nest built by a pair of these birds that had become half domesticated. It was placed in a very thick arbor of honeysuckle. The body of the nest was composed of clippings from a hedge of osage orange, with thorns on them half an inch long. These twigs were tied and interlaced with twine and bits of cotton strings. Within this frame was a layer of fine weeds and grasses nicely arranged, the whole lined with horse-hair. The nest was found in May, and contained five eggs. The parents kept a good deal about the kitchen door, and would steal anything they had an opportunity to take. They made use of an old nest in the same garden as a receptacle for their stolen goods; among other things was found a large slice of bread-and-butter.
Cyanocitta californica, var. woodhousei, Baird.
WOODHOUSE’S JAY.
Cyanocitta woodhousei, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 585, pl. lix.—Ib. Mex. B. II, Birds, 20, pl. xxi.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 304.