THE
ARIZONA GREEN JAY.
| THE geographical
range of the Arizona Jay is in southern New Mexico and
Arizona and south into Sonora and Chihuahua, Mexico. It
is a common resident throughout the oak belt which
generally fringes the foot-hills of the mountains and
ranges well up among the pines. In suitable localities it
is very abundant. It is rarely seen at any distance out
of the arid plains; but after the breeding season is
over, small flocks are sometimes met with among the
shrubbery of the few water courses, several miles away
from their regular habitat. They are seen in the early
Spring, evidently on a raid for eggs and the young of
smaller birds. On such occasions they are very silent,
and their presence is only betrayed by the scoldings they
receive from other birds. On their own heath they are as
noisy as any of our jays, and apparently far more
sociable, a number of pairs frequently nesting close to
each other in a small oak grove. They move about in small
family parties of from half a dozen to twenty or thirty,
being rarely seen alone. They are restless, constantly on
the move, prying into this or that, spending a good
portion of their time on the ground, now hopping on a low
limb, and the next minute down again, twitching their
tails almost constantly. Their call notes are harsh and
far reaching, and are somewhat similar to those of the
California Jay. The voices of animals have a family character not easily mistaken, and this similarity is especially observable in birds. As Agassiz says, "Compare all the sweet warbles of the songster family — the nightingales, the thrushes, the mocking birds, the robins; they differ in the greater or lesser perfection of their note, but the same kind of voice runs through the whole group. |
Does not every member of the Crow
family caw, whether it be a Jackdaw, the Jay, or the
Magpie, the Rook in some green rookery of the Old World,
or the Crow of our woods, with its long melancholy caw
that seems to make the silence and solitude deeper?" The habits of the Arizona Jay are similar to those of its brethren. Its food consists of grasshoppers, insects, animal matter, wild fruits, seeds, and especially acorns. It flies by partly closing its wings, darting suddenly down, then up again, and repeating these movements for some time. It mates about the end of February. The nest, composed of dry rootlets laid very closely in rings, is usually found in an oak sapling about ten feet from the ground. The inside diameter is five inches, and depth one and three-fourths inches. It is like a deep saucer. The Arizona Jay is considered a foothill bird, not going far into the pines and not appearing on the plains. But one brood appears to be raised in a season, and nesting lasts about sixteen days. The eggs vary from four to seven, and differ from all the known eggs of this family found within the United States, being unspotted. They are glaucous green in color, and the majority are much more glossy than jays' eggs generally are. In one hundred and thirty-six specimens examined, all were perfectly immaculate. |