Authorities.—? _Corvus stelleri_, Nuttall, Man. Orn. U. S. and Can. I. 1832, 229 (“Columbia River”). ? Orn. Com. Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII. 1837, 193. _C. s. frontalis_, R. H. Lawrence, Auk XVII. Oct. 1892, p. 355 (Gray’s Harbor). _C. s. carbonacea_ Grinnell, Ridgway, Birds of No. and Mid. Am. Vol. III. p. 354 (footnote). L. Kb. Ornithology is the furthest refined of the systematic sciences. So zealous have been her devotees and so sagacious her high priests, that no shade of difference in size, form or hue of a bird is allowed to pass unnoticed, or its owner unnamed. It is unquestionably annoying to the novice to be confronted with such subtleties, and the recognition of subspecies in the vernacular names of our birds is of doubtful wisdom; but the fashion is set and we will all be foolish together—so that none may laugh. The normal range of Grinnell’s Jay, as defined, extends northward to the Columbia River; and since the district lying between the Columbia and Puget Sound presents intergrades between _C. stelleri_ and _C. s. carbonacea_, obviously, those Jays which inhabit the southern portion of this debatable ground are better entitled to be called _carbonacea_ than _stelleri_. No. 11. BLACK-HEADED JAY. A. O. U. No. 478c. Cyanocitta stelleri annectens (Baird). Synonyms.—“Blue Jay.” Pine Jay. Mountain Jay. Description.—_Adults_: Similar to _C. stelleri_, but marked with a small lengthened white spot over eye; streaks on forehead (when present) paler blue or whitish; streaks on chin and upper throat whiter and more distinct; blue areas slightly paler and rather more greenish in tone. Size indistinguishable. Recognition Marks.—As in _C. stelleri_. White spot over eye distinctive. Nesting.—As in _C. stelleri_. General Range.—Eastern British Columbia and the northern Rocky Mountains, south to Wahsatch Range in Utah, west to eastern slopes of Cascade Range in Washington and Oregon. Range in Washington.—Forests of eastern Washington, shading into typical _stelleri_ in Cascade Range. Nearly confined to pine timber. Authorities.—_Cyanocitta stelleri annectens_, Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, VII., 1882, 229. (C&S.) D¹. D². J. There is no such difference of plumage between _C. stelleri_ and _C. s. annectens_ as is suggested by the name “Black-headed”; but in endeavoring to mark eight shades of difference between tweedledum and tweedledee within the limits of a single species, we are naturally pretty hard put to it for appropriate names. _Annectens_ marks the annexion, or welding together, of two branching lines in the _C. stelleri_ group. It is the head of the wish-bone, whose divergent arms run down the Sierras to Lower California and along the Rockies to Guatemala respectively.