I20 THE OREGON JUNCO. 



Young: Top of head and hind-neck grayish brown streaked with dusky, back 

 and scapulars warmer brown streaked with black ; throat, chest, sides and flanks 

 pale buffy brown streaked with blackish ; otherwise as in adult. Length of adult 

 males about 6.35 (161. 3) : wing 2.95 ij^): tail 2. 50 (65) ; bill .43 ( in : tarsus 

 83 (21 ). Females smaller. 



Recognition Marks. — Sparrow size ; black of head and throat contrasting 

 with white of breast ; white lateral tail-feathers ; head black as compared with 

 ./. Iiyciiialis: back reddish brown as compared with /. 0. shnfcldti. 



Nesting. — Nest: on ground at base of small bush or under fallen branch, 

 sometimes in open wood or set into brushy hillside, of dead grasses and weed 

 stems, scantily lined, or not, with hair; dimensions 2]/} inches wide by 13^ inches 

 deep inside. Eggs: 2-5, usually 4, varying in ground color from pure white to 

 pinkish white or pale blue, spotted or freckled and blotched with light reddish 

 brown or brownish black, with occasional light cloudings of lavender : long oval 

 to short ovate; variable in size, .80 x .60 (20.3x15.2) to .73 x .56 (18.5x14.2). 

 Season: fourth week in April to first week in Julv or August according to alti- 

 tude ; two or three broods. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast district ; in summer from southern British 

 Columbia north to Yakutat Bay, Alaska ; in winter south irregularly 4o California 

 (Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties), straggling across the Cascade-Sierras 

 into interior. 



Range in Washington. — Formerly summer resident, now chiefly migrant 

 and winter resident west of the Cascades ; winter resident and migrant east of 

 Cascades. 



Authorities. — ? Townsend, Journ. Ac. Nat. Sci. Phila. VII., 1837, 188 (part). 

 Jiinco orcqanus Sclater, Baird, Rep. Pac. R. R. Surv. IX., 1858, 467. T. C&S. L'. 

 Rh. D'. Kb. Ra. D=. Kk. B. 



Specimens. — U. of W. P'. Prov. B. 



IN speaking of Juncoes it is necessary to distinguish between the rufous- 

 Ijacked bird of winter, the Oregon Juiico proper, and the brownish-gray- 

 backed bird of summer, the Shufeldt Junco. A dozen years ago orcganus 

 was supposed tO' be the common breeding bird of Puget Sound and the 

 neighlioring foothills, altho- Shufeldt's was well known in the more open 

 situations. Latterly, however, there has not been any authentic account of 

 the nesting of the red-backed liird within the State. 1903 witnessed its last 

 appearance as a summer bird, and that only in the highlands. Recent speci- 

 mens taken during' the breeding season at places so remote from each other 

 as the prairies of Pierce County, the banks of the Pend d'Oreille in Stevens 

 Conntv. and the High Cascades in Whatcom Count^•, lia\'e all jiroven to be 

 /. 0. shnfeldti. 



The fact appears to be that A\e ha\'e detected a Washingtonian instance 

 of that northward trend of species clearly recognizable in the East, but 

 obscured to our vision heretofore in the West by reason of varied conditions 

 and insufficient data. The theory is that the birds are still following the 

 retreat of the glacial ice. We know that the glacial ice-sheet, now confined 



