Birds 87 



inches), and has a dark spot on the breast. It is an extremely 

 common winter bird, which breeds in Alaska. The others, in 

 which the breast lacks the spot, are the Western Chipping Sparrow 

 (S. passer ina arizonae of Coues), a common summer visitor; the 

 Clay-colored Sparrow (5. pallida), found on the eastern plains; 

 and Brewer's Sparrow (5. breweri of Cassin), a summer bird, 

 especially of the sage-brush country. They are distinguished by 

 the markings of the head. 



The Snow Birds (Junco) are general favorites, and very 

 characteristic of our mountains. They have given rise to much 

 discussion, and some of the peculiar specimens have been regarded 

 as hybrids. Thus the J. annectens of Baird, having the chestnut 

 back-patch of J. caniceps and the pink flanks of J. mcarnsi, is 

 treated by Sclater and others as a hybrid between these two. If 

 a Junco has the head and back plain gray, it either has a double 

 white wing-bar, and is J. aikeni of Ridgway, or it lacks the wing- 

 bars, and is J. hyemalis. The former is much the more common 

 with us, the latter is well known in the Eastern States. If the back 

 is more or less distinctly brown or red, and the flanks are strongly 

 pink, it is J. mearnsi of Ridgway, abundant in winter along the 

 eastern base of the mountains. J. oreganus shufeldti of Coale, 

 also a very common winter bird, is distinguished from the last by 

 the flanks being only slightly pink, the head, neck and chest are 

 black in the male, grayish in the female. In J. caniceps the middle 

 of the back is cinnamon-red, strongly contrasting with the slaty 

 head, and the flanks are gray. Sclater noticed that it was not 

 commonly seen near Colorado Springs in winter with the other 

 species, but became abundant in March and April, moving up 

 into the mountains to breed. J. dorsalis of Henry, which has 

 been seen in the southwest corner of the State, would be taken 

 for caniceps, but the upper mandible is blackish instead of pinkish. 

 An extremely interesting species of this genus (/. vulcani) is found 

 on the tops of high mountains in Costa Rica and Panama. It has 

 a streaked back, and is probably nearest to the ancestral form of 

 the genus. No species of Junco are found in the Old World. Two 

 birds of the sage-brush plains are the Desert Sparrow (Amphispiza 

 bilineata deserticola) and the Sage Sparrow (A. nevadensis). The 

 former has a black throat patch, and two white stripes on the 

 grayish-brown head; the latter has the throat white, with blackish 



