Char. Color very dull brown above. Bill very stout, compressed, without notch; higher than broad at the nostrils; culmen curved from the base. Nostrils rounded; the anterior extremity rounded off into the bill; not covered by bristles, but fully exposed. Tail rather longer than the wings, graduated; the lateral feather three fourths the longest; secondaries and tertials nearly as long as the primaries. Legs stout and short, not equal to the head, and little longer than the bill from base.
Psilorhinus morio.
4114
This genus embraces Jays of large size and very dull plumage. The thick bill, with the much curved culmen, the moderate tail, and the open nostrils, may serve to distinguish it from its allies. The nostril is very large, and its anterior portion is bevelled off to a greater degree than in any genus, except in Calocitta. This last-mentioned genus has the same form of bill and of nostrils, but the head has a long recurved crest; the tail is twice as long as the wings; the lateral feather nearly half the middle; the lateral tarsal plates scutellate for the inferior half, etc.
In the shape of the bill and the shortness of the primaries, compared with the broad tertials and secondaries, there is much resemblance to Xanthoura. The nostrils are, however, uncovered, the legs much stouter and shorter, being shorter than the head instead of longer; the tail-feathers are broader, etc.
Psilorhinus morio, Gray.
BROWN JAY.
Pica morio, Wagler, Isis, 1829, VII, 751.—Ib. Isis, 1831, 527.—Voyage de la Favorite, V, 1839, 54 (said to have been killed at San Francisco, Cal., by Botta). Psilorhinus morio, Gray, List, genera, 1841, 51.—Bonap. Consp. 1850, 381.—Cab. Mus. Hein. 1851, 226.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 592, pl. lxviii, f. 1, 2. “Pica fuliginosa, Lesson, Traité d’Orn. 1831, 333.” Psilorhinus mexicanus, Rüppell, Mus. Senck., 1837, pl. xi, f. 2.
Psilorhinus morio.