FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. 347 



flying up together with a twitter and a flash of their white outer 

 tail feathers, or singing in concert a sunn}^ pleasing warble. 



In the breeding season the gray -headed junco may be found nest- 

 ing on the cold crests of the desert ranges in Nevada and the Great 

 Basin, the pink-sided in grassy parks in the pine forests of Mon- 

 tana, and the Point Piuos at Monterey, where the fragrance of the 

 pines is mingled with the distant roar of the Pacific. In their homes 

 you find them more interesting than when in flocks, because tliey 

 are now leading individual lives, but they are still the same trustful, 

 gentle birds, ready to come into camp or to let you examine their 

 nests. On Mt. Shasta and in the Sierra Nevada the Thurber junco 

 nests in the fir forests and mountain meadows from an altitude of 

 7000 to 8000 feet, frequently building near a brook under shelter of 

 a broad-leafed hellebore. One nest found on Donner Peak was sunk 

 in a bed of blooming heather. The brooding birds as a rule are very 

 tame, though they sit around and tsip at you when you come near, 

 and on rare occasions the mother will decoy. 



667a. J. h. oreganus {Towns.). Oregon Junco. 



Adult male. — Head, neck, aiul chest black or dark slaty, the black 

 chest pattern outlined on the white of the under parts as a black convex ; 

 middle of hack dark brown ; sides deep pinkish brown ; three outer tail 

 feathers with white, outside j^air wholly white. Adult female : black of 

 male replaced by slaty ; crown and hind neck washed with brown, and 

 re.st of upper parts brownish ; sides and flanks duller ; bill in life pinkish, 

 tipped with dusky, and iris dark brown or claret color. In winter : colors 

 stronffer, and feathers of chest tipped with whitish. Young: streaked, 

 on brown above, buffy below. Male : length (skins) 5.50-0.07, wing- 2.8()- 

 3.08, tail 2.48-2.()l», bill .41-.45. Female: length (skins) 5.17-5.70, wing 

 2.78-2.80, tail 2.:l4-2.40, bill .41-.45. 



Remarks. — The subspecies of hyemalis are black-headed and chested 

 instead of gray as in hj/emalis, aikeni, and annectens, and the chest line is 

 convex instead of straig-ht across from wing to wing-. Of the hyemalis 

 subspecies oreganus is the darkest, tlie head, neck, and chest of the adult 

 male being- deep black and the back dark chestnut brown. 



Distribution. — Breeds on the Pacific coast from Alaska to British Co- 

 lumbia ; winters south to California ; straggling- to eastern Oregon and 

 Nevada. 



567b. J. h connectens Coues. iNXKKMKm.vTK Junco. 



Similar to onganus, hut head and neck blackish slate instead of jet 

 black, bark dull brown and sides j)iiikisl» hrown. M(de : Icngtli (skins) 

 5.55-(;.2(), wins- .■5.0O-;;.22, tail 2.(»2-2.S4, bill .42-.4<i. Femal, : length 

 (skins) 5.-I0-5.02, wing- 2.S2-;}.(»S, tail 2.:!(>-2.Tl. bill .41 -.4:'.. 



Distribution. — Breeds in the Bocky Mountain region from British Co- 

 lumbia an<l Alberta to Washington and northern Oregon; east probably to 

 Montana aiul Idaho ; winters over the Bocky Mountain plateau to western 

 Tfx;is and northern >b'.\ico ; straggling- t(t California. 



567c. J. h. thurberi Anthom/. Thuhbkr Junco. 



.Simil.n- to unganus. but wings and tail longer; Inad. throat, .-ind breast 



