BAIRD'S JTJNCO 1133 



of severe weather. Phillip set al. (1964) note that when they do so 

 "The birds do not join their dark-eyed cousins, but stay to themselves, 

 in groups not exceeding family size." 



Distribution 



Range. — The Mexican junco is resident in the mountains from 

 southeastern Arizona (Pinal Mountain, Santa Catalina and Graham 

 mountains) and extreme southwestern New Mexico (Animas and Big 

 Hatchet mountains) south through northeastern Sonora (San Jose 

 Mountains), Chihuahua, and Coahuila (Sierra del Carmen, Sierra 

 Encarnaci6u) to southern Durango (El Sal to). 



Egg dates. — Arizona: 41 records, AprU 18 to August 1; 20 records, 

 June 2 to June 14. 



New Mexico: 3 records, May 3 to June 1. 



JUNCO BAIRDI Ridg^vay 



Baird's Junco 

 Contributed by Richard C. Banks 



Habits 



This species was described by Robert Ridgway (1883b; see Deignan, 

 1961) on the basis of two specimens taken in the Laguna Mountains 

 of Baja California by Lyman Belding. A short while after the original 

 description, two additional specimens were obtained and described by 

 Belding (1883b). Further work showed that Baird's junco lives 

 throughout the mountains of the Cape region of Baja California. It 

 has never been found elsewhere. 



This is one of the yellow-eyed group of juncos, most closely related 

 to the juncos of Mexico and Central America (MUler, 1941b). In 

 some of its characteristics it is similar to J. alticola of Chiapas and 

 Guatemala, in some to J. fulvescens of Chiapas, and in some to J. 

 phaeonotus, which ranges broadly through Mexico to the east of the 

 range of bairdi (Miller, 1941b; Davis, 1959). A. H. Miller (1941b) 

 notes that "It possesses several pecuharities of color and proportion 

 that sharply set it off from all others, yet, spealdng broadly, it is a 

 pale, dwarfed representative of the Central American juncos." 



Miller's (1914b) study of the genus Junco led him to conclude that 

 the progenitors of J. bairdi had colonized the isolated mountains of the 

 Cape region by direct flight from the east or south, in times earlier 

 than Pleistocene. John Da\'is (1959) considered Baird's junco to be 

 one of a number of species that originated in the Madro-Tertiary 

 flora of Mexico and followed this flora into the Cape region, where 

 later climatic changes left it isolated. In isolation it retained a 



