514 MICHIGAN BIRD LIFE. 



of Detroit it generally appears in numbers from the north about the 15th 

 of October, and he has seen them as late as May 7 (1889) in the spring, 

 but the middle of April generally sees the departure of the bulk. While 

 with us it is rarely seen singly, and even when nesting, at least at the 

 north, several nests are likely to be found in the same vicinity. 



It gets almost its whole food from the ground, where it searches for 

 seeds of various kinds, and scratches among the fallen leaves and grass 

 in search of seeds and insect larva? and pupoc. While it frequents the 

 open fields and pastures during migration, it is much more apt to be found 

 in numbers about the borders and corners of fields, along the edges of 

 woods, and in brushy or weedy ravines where its favorite food is abundant. 

 It seems to be very fond of searching the ground in the shade of large trees, 

 and in the semi darkness of such places the white tail-feathers are quite 

 conspicuous as it flits back and forth. 



Nests are found most often in June, but eggs are laid in May, June and 

 July, and it seems certain that two broods are reared each season. The 

 nest is placed on the ground invariably, so far as we know, and is often 

 more or less hidden beneath a fallen log, a tuft of grass or a heap of brush. 

 It consists of grasses and various fibrous materials which form a compact, 

 snug and deeply hollowed receptacle for the eggs. These are three to 

 five, nearly white, speckled with reddish brown, and average ,76 by .58 

 inches. 



Its ordinary song is a prolonged, clear trill, which apparently is the 

 repetition of a single note, but which is much more musical than the song 

 of the Chipping Sparrow which it somewhat resembles. Mr. Bicknell 

 says it has also a "faint, whispering warble, usually much broken, but not 

 without sweetness, and sometimes continuing intermittently for many 

 minutes. It seems to slip into this very readily from a simple chirping, 

 and is always the song with which the species begins the season. I have 

 heard both of its songs in October and November." 



An impression is current among country people in Michigan, as else- 

 where, that the Blue Snowbird changes in the summer into a "Ground 

 Bird" or sparrow, which changes again in the fall into a slate-blue winter 

 bird. Of course this belief has no foundation in fact. In reality the 

 seasonal changes of plumage in the Junco are much slighter than in 

 most other birds of the group. It is perhaps a little browner or grayer 

 in winter and the slate becomes a little blacker and the white a little purer 

 during the nesting season. 



TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 



Adult male: Entire upper parts slate-gray, darker on the head, usually almost black 

 on the forehead, often witla a brownish gloss on the middle of the back; sides of head, throat, 

 breast and sides slate-colored, like the back but a little lighter, or ash-gray on sides and 

 flanks; belly and under tail-coverts pure white; wings and tail dark slate-gray, the former 

 without any trace of bars, tlie latter with the two outer pairs of feathers pure white, and the 

 next pair partly so; bill light pinkish or flesh-color; iris brown. Adult female: Very 

 similar to male, but the slate-color of upper i)arts never so dark, and always washed with 

 brownish on the back and usually with rusty on edges of tertiaries; sides often strongly 

 tinged with light pinkish brown. Young: At first entirely streakedfabove and below; 

 above with brownish and black or slate, below with blackish and brown on a whitish ground. 

 Later, the streaks are lost and the young resemble the females, but are much browner, 

 the Avings often showing two rusty bars, and the secondaries and tertiaries edged with buff 

 or brown. 



Length 6 to 7 inches; wing 2.98 to 3.25; tair2.60 to 2.90; culmen .46 to .51. 



Note. — For accounts of other species of Junco, said to occur in Michigan, see Appendix. 



