Perisoreus

Perisoreus
Canada jay (Perisoreus canadensis)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Subfamily: Perisoreinae
Genus: Perisoreus
Bonaparte, 1831
Type species
Corvus canadensis
Linnaeus, 1766

The genus Perisoreus is a very small genus of jays from the Boreal regions of North America and Eurasia from Scandinavia to the Asian seaboard. An isolated species also occurs in north-western Sichuan of China. They belong to the Passerine order of birds in the family Corvidae. Species of Perisoreus jays are most closely related to the genus Cyanopica.

The genus was introduced by the French zoologist Charles Lucien Bonaparte in 1831. The type species was subsequently designated as the Canada jay. The name of the genus may come from the Ancient Greek perisōreuō "to heap up" or "bury beneath". Alternatively it may be from the Latin peri- "very" or "exceedingly" and sorix, a bird of augury dedicated to Saturn.

Species

The genus contains three species.

Genus Perisoreus – Bonaparte, 1831 – three species
Common name Scientific name and subspecies Range Size and ecology IUCN status and estimated population
Canada jay

 Perisoreus canadensis
(Linnaeus, 1766)

Nine subspecies
  • P. c. albescens
  • P. c. bicolor
  • P. c. canadensis
  • P. c. capitalis
  • P. c. griseus
  • P. c. nigricapillus
  • P. c. obscurus
  • P. c. pacificus
  • P. c. sanfordi
North America north to the tree line, and in the Rocky Mountains subalpine zone south to New Mexico and Arizona
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

26,000,000 Decrease
Siberian jay

 Perisoreus infaustus
(Linnaeus, 1758)

Five subspecies
 north Eurasia
Map of range		 Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  LC 

2,130,000-4,150,000 Decrease
Sichuan jay

 Perisoreus internigrans
(Thayer & Bangs, 1912)		 China Size:

Habitat:

Diet:		  NT 

12,000 - 20,500 Decrease