Page:Ornithological biography, or an account of the habits of the birds of the United States of America, volume 1.djvu/512

484 time retain the usual generic name for the present splendid species, which has the bill of nearly the same form as the true Crows, combined with the elongated tail, and lively colouring of the Jays.

Were I to relate to you, good reader, the various accounts which I have heard respecting this splendid bird, I should have enough to say; but as I have resolved to confine myself entirely to the results of my own observation, I must for the present remain silent on the subject.

The specimen from which the drawings were taken was presented to me by a friend who had received it from the Columbia River, and is the only individual represented in the volume which I did not myself procure on the spot. However, as I expect to ramble again through our vast forests and extensive territories, I may yet be enabled to give you a full account of this beautiful bird, which, from the splendour of its plumage, deserves all the attention of the naturalist. In the mean time I adjoin a notice respecting it, with which I have lately been favoured by my friend, the Prince of Musignano. "Le superbe geai, dont vous me parlez, est sans doute l'oiseau que a fait connâitre le premier, sous le nom de Pica Bullockii, et que  a figuré dans ses planches coloriées, sous cellui de Garrula Gubernatrix. Son nom legitime, suivant mes principes, sera Garrulus Bullockii, mais vous avez raison de dire qu'il ne se trouve pas dans mon Synopsis: ce n'est que par votre lettre que j'ai appris qu'il se trouvait dans le territoire des Etats-unis. Jusqu'a prèsent on ne l'avait trouve qu'au Mexique et a la Californie. Il n'est pas etonnant qu'il se retrouve sur la rivière Columbia. Mais comment l'avez-vous obtena et avez-vous pu le dessiner vivant? Trois autres especes de geais, qui ne sont pas dans mon Synopsis, habitent l'extremité nord de l'Amerique, et il est probable, qu' outre votre superbe geai commandeur, plusieurs autres des especes Mexicaines se retrouvent dans sa partie occidentale."

, Wagler.

Bill of ordinary length, straight, robust, compressed; upper mandible with the dorsal outline straightish at the base, declinate and convex towards the tip, which is deflected, the sides convex, the edges rather sharp; lower mandible with the dorsal outline slightly concave towards the base, convex and ascending towards the tip. Nostrils basal, oval,