PINK-SIDED OREGON JUNCO 1077 



Voice. — I do not know whether I should say a junco may sometimes 

 sing for the pure joy of hearing his own voice. But a male I heard 

 singing from the top of a chokecherry near Palisades Dam, Bonneville 

 County, Idaho, one midsummer afternoon almost caused me to think 

 so. The bird was wet, as wet as he could be, from a bath in a nearby 

 backwater pool of a brook. He was perched, his head thrown back, 

 vigorously shaking and fluffing his feathers dry, singing rapidly and 

 repeatedly all the while. He paused only now and then to pick at a 

 feather, and then sang again as I watched from an adjacent path for 

 more than 10 minutes. His song was a whistling " ting-ing-ing- 

 ing-ing" repeated rapidly in series. The calls and notes of mearnsi 

 are the same as those of others of the species insofar as I can determine. 



Field marks. — The pink-sided race may be distinguished in the field 

 from the other Oregon junco races. 



The description given by A. H. Mifier (1936) is excellent: "The 

 species has broad areas of rich pinkish cinnamon on the sides. The 

 sides are never brownish or vinaceous as in many Shufeldt's Juncos. 

 Pink-sided Juncos have gray, not sooty or blackish heads; sometimes 

 the feathers are tipped with buff. The back is dull brown. No one 

 of these charactors can be relied on solely, but the combination of rich 

 side color and clear gray head is highly dependable." 



Enemies. — Concerning survival in the wild, John N. and Eleanor 

 Hough (pers. comm.) at Boulder, Colo., banded a total of 3,101 pink- 

 sided Oregon juncos from 1946 to 1958. These yielded 63 returns to 

 their station after 1 year, 21 returns after 2 years, 14 returns after 3 

 years, 4 returns after 4 years, 2 returns after 5 years, and 1 return 

 after years. 



Juncos in Yellowstone are attracted to the warmth of caves, which 

 often become death traps from gases. Edgar A. Mearns (1903) notes: 

 "In any hollow capable of holding the heavy gas (supposed to be 

 carbon dioxide) fatal to animal life, dead birds were liable to be found, 

 provided that the usual accompaniment of heat and moisture (from 

 steam), and sulphurous odors (from emanating gases) were found. 

 Most of the dead creatures were birds * * *. The effect on bird 

 bodies was to cause rapid decay, the flesh quickly disappearing, then 

 the bones, and lastly, the feathers." 



Mearns visited the "Stygian Cave" at Mammoth Hot Springs and 

 other similar formations near by. Pink-sided Oregon juncos were 

 always found, usually numbering more than other species. During 

 the September 1902 autumn migration, Mearns says an unusually 

 large number of birds perished and although he kept no records, "Tlio 

 largest number were pink-sided juncos." 



Fall and winter. — About the first week in August the pink-sided 

 juncos may be found in small flocks — usually birds of a single family, 



