THE BIRDS
WOODHOUSE JAY. Aphelocoma woohousei (Baird)
Field characters.Similar
to those of California Jay (which see). Broad area of chin and throat
less clearly white and less sharply set off against blue of side of neck
and breast. Voice: As for California Jay.
Occurrence.Found in
small numbers during the fall months in the piñons on Williams
Butte, near Mono Lake.
The Woodhouse Jay is a near relative of the
California Jay. In appearance it closely resembles the latter bird,
differing chiefly in having a slenderer bill, a paler tone of coloration
above, and in being less clearly white below. The light area involving
the chin and throat is less sharply set off against the adjoining
blue.
Two scattered bands of eight and twelve birds,
respectively, were seen in the fine stand of piñon pines on the west
side of Williams Butte near the summit on September 21 and 22, 1915.
These were possibly fall wanderers from farther to the eastward, for
none was anywhere seen in the vicinity of Williams Butte during the
field work there, from late April until early July, in 1916.
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