1048 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 23 7 part 2 



Rump gray bro^\^l, mottled uith blackish. Upper tail coverts drab 

 gray brown, obscurely streaked wdth blackish. Outer two pairs of 

 rectrices lai'gely white, third from outside Mith some white, others 

 black. Remiges black; primaries and secondaries edged with whit- 

 ish, tertials with buff or buffy gray. Coverts edged with buff. Lores, 

 eye ring, and sides of head rather flat gray (uniform, except auric- 

 ulars, lightly flecked with dusky). Chin and throat light gray or 

 whitish, streaked and spotted (obscurely in some specimens) with 

 blackish. Chest buff- tin ted gray, or buff; sides and flanks buffy. 

 Chest and sides streaked rather heavily with blackish. Belly and 

 crissum unmarked white. Legs gray." 



Food. — Though not extensively studied so far as I am aware, the 

 food of this race parallels that of J. h. hyemalis. Seeds form much 

 of it, those of both grasses and weeds, particularly in the colder 

 months. During the warmer seasons it eats a higher proportion of 

 insects, and it feeds the nestlings exclusively on animal food. It 

 forages in the usual junco manner, scratching among leaves and 

 ground debris beneath thickets and brush, and it often visits feeding 

 stations immediately adjacent to human dwellings. 



Voice. — The song of this junco is very similar, practically identi- 

 cal in fact, to that of hyemalis. It is a melodious trill, often uttered 

 for considerable periods and frequently from an elevated perch. The 

 call note can hardly be described as anything but a sharp "chip," 

 easily recognized when once learned. 



Behavior. — The outstanding characteristic of this junco is its ^tame- 

 ness. About such heavily populated resort towns as Blowing Rock, 

 Linville, and Highlands, as w^ell as along the Skyline Drive in Virginia, 

 southward along the Blue Ridge Parkw^ay, and in America's most 

 visited national park. Great Smoky Moimtain National Park, the 

 bird is almost underfoot everywhere. Along roadsides, trails, and 

 streets, in yards and gardens, the familiar "chip," trilling song, and 

 flash of white outer tail feathers are conmon sights. The bird is 

 omnipresent on manicm-ed estates as well on remote summits and 

 peaks. Its universal local name is "snow^bkd." 



Fall and winter. — As fall comes and the first frosts occur, carolinensis 

 begins to drift to lower levels. At an elevation of 2,800 feet near 

 Black Mountain where the bird is not present during the summer I 

 saw the first ones on Sept. 30, 1931, after four days of frost mth day 

 time temperatures ranging from 37° to 42° F. As winter comes on, 

 the birds drop farther into the valleys and along the Piedmont, where 

 they may join the flocks of migrant hyemalis. Generally they stay 

 close to the foothills and move only casually southward or out onto 

 the coastal plain. That this junco can and does remain at high 

 altitudes through the winter is attested to by T. D. Burleigh's (1941) 



