Form. Small and slender; bill, moderate, rather long; wings, moderate;
tail, long, several of the central feathers equal, others shorter and
graduated, outer feathers shortest; legs and feet, long and slender.
Dimensions. Total length (of skin) about 4¼ inches; wing, 12¾; tail, 2¼;
inches.
Colors. _Male._—Head, above, glossy black; upper parts of the body and
wings, grayish-cinereous or lead-colored; lower parts very pale
ashy-white, deeper on the sides and flanks; quills, brownish-black,
edged externally with ashy-white; tail, black, the two outer feathers
tipped with white, having their outer webs of that color, the next two
also edged on their outer webs with white and tipped with the same,
readily seen on the inferior surface of the tail; bill and legs, dark.
_Female_, with the head above uniform with the other parts—not
black—otherwise, like the male.
Hab. Texas, Mexico. Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus.,
Washington city.
Obs. This species very much resembles the South American _Culicivora
leucogastra_, De Wied, (which is _C. atricapilla_, Swainson,) but is
smaller. We have never seen specimens of the present species with the
under parts of such a clear white as is usual in the larger bird just
mentioned, though it may assume it in its perfectly mature plumage. The
South American bird measures in total length about five inches.
The Prince of Canino’s description of _Culicivora mexicana_ as cited
above, we regard as applicable to the female of the present species. All
the species of this genus more or less resemble each other, and now
require careful revision, having the appearance to us of being rather
confused than otherwise, and but imperfectly described.
[Illustration: Plate 28
The Prince Maximilian’s Jay
Gymnokitta cyanocephala (_DeWied_)]
GYMNOKITTA CYANOCEPHALA.—(De Wied.)
The Prince Maximilian’s Jay.
PLATE XXVIII.—Adult Male.
We have the pleasure of presenting to the reader, in the plate now
before him, one of the most singular of the birds of the family of Crows
and Jays yet known to inhabit North America.
This bird was discovered in the Rocky Mountains, by that learned and
enthusiastic naturalist, Maximilian, Prince of Wied, who in the course
of travels in North America, and especially in the interior, contributed
a large amount of valuable information relating to the natural history
of the northern portion of our continent, as he had previously to that
of South America. Few books, in fact, contain more important
observations in the various departments of North American Zoology than
the work of that nobleman, “Travels in the Interior of North
America,—edition in German, Coblenz, 1839;” but, unfortunately, and
certainly without his approbation, nearly everything relating to natural
history is omitted in the English edition, London, 1843. In Ornithology,
the works of the Prince Maximilian are particularly valuable, and in
that relating to North America, there are many notices of little known
and interesting species, and the first descriptions of some which have
since been regarded as previously unknown by American writers.
The present bird differs in generic as well as specific characters from
all other forms of the family to which it belongs. Its short, heavy
figure approximates it somewhat to the Nut-crackers of the old world
(_Nucifraga_), and to Clark’s Crow of Western America (_Picicorvus
columbianus_), and its habits, so far as known, are in some respects
similar to those of the latter. It does not appear, however, to be in
any considerable degree a fruit-eater, but is decidedly carnivorous, and
almost rapacious; preying on Reptiles, particularly the various species
of _Phrynosoma_, or Horned Frogs, as they are called with but little
propriety, which abound in Western North America. It appears, in fact,
to resemble in habits, to some extent, the reptile-eating Kingfishers
(_Genus Todiramphus_) of Asia, the Pacific islands and Australia, and if
not absolutely allied, is certainly a strongly analogous representative
of those curious birds.
The first specimens of this bird which were brought to the attention of
American naturalists, were sent to the Philadelphia Academy, by Mr.
Edward M. Kern, who procured them during his connection with Col.
Frémont’s Expedition of 1846; and previously no others appear to have
reached Europe, than those of its discoverer, the Prince Maximilian.
More recently it has been observed by several of the naturalists who
have visited Western America. Our friend, T. Charlton Henry, M. D., of
the United States’ Army, has noticed it repeatedly in the vicinity of
Fort Webster, in New Mexico. To him we have the pleasure of expressing
our obligations for the following interesting notes relating to this
bird, as well as for many others:
“This singular and handsome Jay, I first met with near San Miguel, in
July, 1852, where I observed a party of some twenty or thirty specimens
flitting through the cedars along the roadside. They were mostly young
birds, and constantly alighted on the ground, for the purpose, as I
ascertained, of capturing lizards, which they killed with great
readiness and devoured.
“Since that time, I have frequently observed this bird in the winter
only, in the neighborhood of Fort Webster, and always in flocks of about
forty or fifty; indeed I am not sure that I have not repeatedly fallen
in with the same flock, and it may not therefore be as abundant as I am
inclined to suppose. Here they evince an exceeding wariness and are very
difficult to approach; I have chased a flock for hours without
succeeding in getting within gun-shot.
“Almost invariably a flock alights near the summit of a hill, and passes
down its side rapidly, all the birds keeping quite near to each other,
and individuals frequently alighting on the ground, when their attention
is attracted by their favorite food. They appear to be very social and
keep up a continued twittering note. I have occasionally seen them
flying in close flocks, high in the air, and apparently passing from one
mountain or hill to another.
“This bird, so far as I have seen, is exclusively a mountain species, as
I have never observed it in the plains or the bottom lands, which are
the usual haunts of its relatives, Steller’s and the California Jay. It
differs, however, from them in many respects, and is the only species of
these birds that I have never met with singly or in parties of
half-a-dozen individuals only. I have always seen it in large flocks.
Its food appears to be exclusively reptiles.”
C. B. R. Kennerly, M. D., a young naturalist of great promise, who was
attached as Zoologist to Lieut. Whipple’s party, for surveying a route
for a railroad to the Pacific Ocean, brought fine specimens of the bird
now before us, in the large and highly interesting collection of birds
made by him in the countries traversed by the expedition. To Dr.
Kennerly we are indebted for the following notice of this species:
“During the march of our party from the Rio Grande to the Sierra Madre,
we saw this bird nearly every day. At that season, which was November,
large flocks were constantly found in the vicinity of the running
streams, which on being frightened from the low bushes, circled around,
loudly uttering their peculiar cry, and rising higher and higher, until
they reached the summit of some tree on the rocky hills. When settled,
they continued their discordant notes, which somewhat resemble some of
those of the common Cat-bird (_Mimus felivox_).”
The Prince Maximilian’s specimens of this bird were obtained on Maria’s
river, one of the tributaries of the Upper Missouri, in the northern
part of the possessions of the United States in Western America, and
much farther north than it has been observed by either of the late
naturalists. It probably inhabits a very extensive district, the limits
of which cannot at present be conjectured.
The figure in the present plate is that of the adult male, and is about
two-thirds of the natural size.