This is a very abundant species both about habitations and in low woodlands. They are very bold and familiar, stealing everything they may take a fancy to, and frequently robbing smaller birds of their eggs and young. They are said to be more tame and familiar than the eastern Blue Jay, thereby bringing their bad habits much more frequently to the attention of the masses. They nest most often in bushes or low trees, but not as a rule, far above the ground. Their eggs are a bright bluish green color, speckled and spotted with brownish and lavender. Size 1.10 × .80. 481a. XANTUS'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica hypoleuca._ Range.--Lower California. The habits and nests and eggs of this lighter colored variety do not differ from those of the California Jay. 481b. BELDING'S JAY. _Aphelocoma californica obscura._ Range.--San Pedro Martir Mts. Lower California. A darker variety of the California Jay, whose nesting habits will not differ in any essential particular. 481.1. SANTA CRUZ JAY. _Aphelocoma insularis._ Range.--Santa Cruz Island, California. This species is the largest and darkest colored bird of the genus _Aphelocoma_. It is said to be a very abundant species on the island from which it takes its name, and to have the habits and traits common to all the members of the Jay family. The nesting habits are the same as those of the others, but the eggs are slightly larger, averaging 1.15 × .85. Set of three in the collection of John Lewis Childs, taken by R. H. Beck on May 10, 1897. 482. ARIZONA JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi arizonæ._ Range.--Arizona and southwestern New Mexico south into Mexico. [Illustration 309: Bright bluish green.] [Illustration: 482--484a--485.] [Illustration: Greenish blue.] [Illustration: right hand margin.] Page 308 482a. COUCH'S JAY. _Aphelocoma sieberi couchi._ Range.--Eastern Mexico, north to western Texas. 483. GREEN JAY. _Xanthoura luxuosa glaucescens._ Range.--Northeastern Mexico and the Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas. This handsome species has a bright blue crown and patches under the eyes, the rest of the upper parts being greenish; throat and sides of head black, underparts greenish white. This gaudy and noisy bird has all the habits common to other Jays including that of robbing birds' nests. They build generally in tangled thickets or low bushes, placing their nests at a low elevation and making them of twigs, weeds, moss, etc., lined with fine rootlets. Their four or five eggs, which are laid during April or May, are grayish buff in color, spotted with various shades of brown and lavender gray. Size 1.20 × .85. 484. CANADA JAY. _Perisoreus canadensis canadensis._ Range.--Southeastern British Provinces and the adjacent portions of the United States; west to the Rockies.