WESTERN BIRDS Junco 



or lacking, and in the young it is gray, and the chest is 

 indistinctly streaked. 



In southern California these birds are common on 

 bushy mountain sides up to 7,000 feet during summer. 



GENUS JUNCO : SLATE-COLORED 

 JUNCO. 



Slate-Colored Junco: J unco hyemalis hyemalis. 

 FAMILY— FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 



One of the friendliest, most welcome visitors of the 

 cold winter months through the eastern United States is 

 the plump little Slate-colored Junco, a bird which breeds 

 in the far north and in the higher altitudes from Min- 

 nesota and the mountains of New York and New Eng- 

 land northward, and winters southward to the Gulf 

 States. It also strays farther west and is a visitor along 

 the Pacific Coast, although several other Juncos are more 

 common. 



This Black Snowbird, as he is sometimes called, is 

 about six and one- fourth inches long and may be known 

 by his gray upper parts, the same dark shade extending 

 from bill to breast, the lower breast and belly being 

 white ; the bill is pinkish white with a black tip, and two 

 outer tail feathers are distinctive markings. The female 

 is similar but is lighter colored and usually more rusty. 



These little Juncos come freely about the yard in 

 large flocks and gladly pick up the crumbs thrown out 

 to them. They come, however, not for the bounty we 

 may spread for them, but primarily for seeds of pig- 

 weed, chickweed, foxtail, ragweed and any other kind 

 that still peeps above the snow or remains in some shel- 

 tered spot. 



The ordinary note is a sparrow-like 't&vp, but with the 

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