JUNCO. 313 



bird is a great favorite in the North, and justly so. It is 

 one of the sweetest songsters of the locaHties where it 

 is found ; and, having no bad precedents witli the farmer, 

 and being of a sociable, lively disposition, it is no wonder 

 that it meets with great favor. 



The song of this species is very beautiful. It is difficult of 

 description, but resembles nearly the syllables ^chea dee de; 

 de-d-de,-de-d-de, de-d-de, de-d-de, uttered at first loud and 

 clear, and rapidly falling in tone and decreasing in volume. 



This is chanted during the morning and the latter part of 

 the day, and, in cloudy weather, through the whole day. I 

 have often heard it at different hours of the night, when 

 I have been encamped in the deep forests ; and the elfect, at 

 that time, was indescribably sweet and plaintive. The fact 

 that the bird often sings in the night has given it the name 

 of the " Nightingale " in many localities ; and the title is 

 well earned. 



While in its spring and autumn migrations, this Sparrow 

 prefers low moist thickets and young woods ; but, in its sum- 

 mer home, it is found equally abundant in fields, pastures, 

 swamps, and forests. 



It feeds on insects, various seeds, and berries, and some- 

 times pursues flying insects in the manner of the preceding 

 species. 



About the last week in October, the birds, after congre- 

 gating in loose flocks of a dozen or fifteen, leave New Eng- 

 land for their winter homes. 



JUNCO, Wagler. 



Junco, Waglkr, Isis (1831). (T^^pe Fringilla cinerea, Sw.) 

 Bill small, conical; culmen curved at the tip; the lower jaw quite as high as the 

 upper; tarsus lonj^er than the middle toe; outer toe longer than the inner, barely 

 reaching to the base of the middle claw; hind toe reaching as far as the middle of 

 the latter; extended toes reaching about to the middle of the tail; wings rather 

 short, reaching over the basal fourth of the exposed surface of the tail ; primaries, 

 however, considerably longer than the nearly equal secondaries and tertials; the 

 second quill longest, the third to fifth successively but little shorter; first longer than 

 sixth, much exceeding secondaries; tail moderate, a little shorter than the wings; 



