752 MICHIGAN lURD LIFE. 



Adult male in summer: Top and sides of head deei) black, relieved by'^a broad white 

 stripe behind eye, a narrow white stripe along middle portion of ear-coverts, and a white 

 malar.'stripe, much widest posteriorly; hind neck and entire lower parts deep ochraceous- 

 buff, the first streaked with dusky; anterior lesser wing-coverts deep black, posterior 

 ones pure white, forming a conspicuous bar, widest above. Adult male in winter: Black 

 of head entirely replaced by streaked brownish, the tliroat and chest also more or less 

 streaked with dusky; otherwise much as in summer, but middle and greater wing-coverts 

 distinctly tipped with white. Adult female in summer: Much like winter male, but 

 smaller, paler, grayer, without deep black or pure white on lesser wing-coverts; in winter 

 similar but more buffy. 



Male: Length 6.40 to 6.50 inches; wing 3.60 to 3.70. Female: Length about 5.50 

 to 6 inches; wing 3.45 to 3.60 (Ridgway). 



Montana Junco. Junco hyemalis montanus Ridgw. (567f) 



Similar to the common Junco {hyemalis), but with the sides more or 

 less pinkish brown. Not to be identified, however, by any but the expert 

 with abundance of material for comparison. 



Distribution. — Northern Rocky Mountains. Breeds in Canadian Zone 

 from southern Alberta south to northern Idaho and northwestern Montana; 

 in winter south to Arizona, Texas and northern Mexico. East casually 

 to Kansas, IlUnois, Indiana, Massachusetts and Maryland. 



In Dr. Miles' list of Michigan birds (1860) the "Oregon Snowbird" 

 was included on the authority of Prof. Fox who, according to Miles, took 

 two at Grosse Isle, Wayne county, Mich. In the autumn of 1878, Dr. 

 H. A. Atkins of Locke, Ingham county, says he shot two Oregon Juncos 

 and saw perhaps twelve or fifteen in all. He says they were first noticed 

 October 11 and last seen October 30. Neither Prof. Fox's specimens nor 

 Dr. Atkins' specimens are to be found now, and so far as can be learned 

 not one of them was ever examined by a critical ornithologist. It is not 

 improbable that they were merely rather unusual specimens of the common 

 Junco (hyemalis), yet it is possible that they belonged to one of the forms 

 now recognized as subspecies and variously named, oregomis, annectens, 

 shufeldti, and montanus. In the absence of actual specimens it is a waste 

 of time to speculate on the matter. In Ridgway's "Birds of North and 

 Middle America" (Bull. 50 U. S. Narional Museum, Part I, p. 290) the 

 specimens mentioned above by Dr. Atkins are recorded under Junco 

 montanus, Ridgw. 



Gray-headed Junco. Junco phaeonotus caniceps (Woodh.). (570b) 



November 19, 1878, Dr. H. A. Atkins of Locke, Ingham County, Mich., 

 wrote Dr. J. A. Allen "I took alive October 22, a fine specimen of the 

 Chestnut-backed Snowbird, found in a flock of common Snowbirds." 

 In the Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. IX, p. 81, July 1884, Dr. Atkins 

 gives the following particulars of this capture: "It was taken alive from 

 weeds in which it had become entangled * * * placed under a sieve 

 in the barn until I could give it better quarters, but while feeding it the 

 next morning it succeeded in getting away from me." It seems altogether 

 probable that this record is based on a mistaken identification. Since 

 it was examined under circumstances which did not admit of careful 

 measurement and comparison with other specimens it is not likely that 

 a correct identification could be made. This species according to Ridgway 

 belongs to the "Rocky Mountain district, breeding from Fort I^i-idger 

 southward." In his "lairds of North and Middle America" Part 1, 1901, 



