142 



JUNCO OE-EGONUS, OREGON SNOW-BIRD. 



;it ordiuary altitudes. The ep:gs are white or whitish, often with a faint 

 orayish tint, occasionally slightly ilesh-colored, sprinkled more or less 

 thickly and uniformly with reddish-brown, or pale chocolate, and often, 

 also, a few dark-brown dots. The tendency is to aggregation, at or 

 around the but. They measure 0.80 by O.GO. All the species of Junco 

 lay similar eggs, and the nidificatiou is essentially the same. 



JUNCO OREGONUS, (Towns.) Scl. 

 Oregon Snow-bird. 



.Fringilla oregona, Towxs., J. A. N. S. Phila. vii, 1837, 188; Narr. 1839, 345.— Aro., Oro. 

 Biog. V, 1839, 68, pi. 398. 



Struthus orcgouiis, Bp., List, 1838, 31 ; Consp. Av. i, 1850, 475. — WoODH., Sitgr. Rep. 

 1853, 83.— Newb., P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 88, 



Nipha'a oregona, Auu., Syu. 1839, 107 : B. Am. iii, 1841, 91, pi. 168. 



Junco oirgoniis, Scl., P. Z. S. 1857, 7 ; Cat. 1862, 115.— Lord, Pr. Arty. In.st. 1864, iv, 

 120.— Bd., B. N. a. 1858, 466.— Kenn., P. R. R. Rep. 1859, part iv, 28.— Heerm , 

 ibid, part vi, 47.— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. Ter. 1860, 202.— Hayd., Rep. 

 1862, 166.— COUES, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 85.— Dall & Bann., Tr. Cliic. Acad, 

 i, 1869, 284.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 199.— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 1870, 

 464.— Mei!1!., ibid. 1872, 681.— FiNSCH, Abh. Nat. iii, 1872, 53 (Alaska).— Allen, 

 Bull. M. C. Z. iii, 1872, 118, 167.— Hold.— Aiken, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1872. 200 (Wy- 

 oming).— Coues, Key, 1872, 141.- B. B. &. R., N. A. B. i, 1874, 584, pi. 26, f. 2. 



Junco lujemaJis var. oregonus, Ridgw., Am. Nat. vii, 1873, 613 (critical). 



Fringilla hiuhonia. Light., Abh. Ak. Berlin, 1839, 424, ncc FoiiST. 



Fringilla atrata, Brandt, Ic. Rosso-As. pi. 2, lig. 8. 



Hab. — Western and Middle Provinces of North America; straggling to edge of the 

 Eastern Province. 



Lieutenant Warren's Expedition.— 'So. 5372, Medicine Creek; 5374, Great Bend of Mis- 

 souri River. 



Later Expeditions. — 61022-7, Green River, &c., Wyoming ; 62316-23, Idaho and Wy- 

 oming. 



The Warren specimens indicate a nearly extreme eastern range of the 

 species ; still, we have advices of its occurrence in Kansas, both ;it Fort 

 Leavenworth and at Fort Riley, which brings it fairly within the limits 

 of the Eastern Province. It has only occurred in winter, however, in 

 these localities. 



The date of capture of the Raynolds' examples renders it probable 

 that the bird breeds in those places. Just as we have seen the Eastern 

 Snow-bird breeding in mountains, in latitudes below those where it 

 breeds down to sea-level, so the Oregon species resides in summer, at 

 least, down to the 35° parallel, if not further. Dr. Cooper, indeed, 

 observes that it summers in the mountainous parts of California, prob- 

 ably down to the 32° parallel ; he observed it at San Diego until April, 

 when he judged that it retired to the high mountains a. few miles from 

 the coast, to breed. He found it nesting on the coast mountains south 

 of Santa Clara, in May, the young flying by the 13th of that month, and 

 has given a description of the nest. " It was built in a cavity among 

 the roots of a large tree on a steep bank ; formed of leaves, grasses, and 

 tine root-fibres, and covered outside with an abundant coating of green 

 moss." Another nest that he found May 20th, on the very summit of 

 the mountains, was " slightly sunk in the ground under a fern [Pteris) 

 and formed like the other, but with less moss around the edge ; some 



