FINCHES 



45 



arciiacca) has imich longer wings and tail, es- 

 pecially the latter, than his eastern relative, and 

 his general color is grayer. He is found in the 

 more western portions of the (ireat Plains; he 

 hreeds from Xehraska and South Dakota to 

 eastern Montana and winters south to southern 

 Texas and Louisiana. 



\\ urthcn's .S]jarrow or the Mexican Field 

 Sparrow (Sptj:clla worthcni) is a straggler from 

 over the Mexican border into New Mexico. He 

 is much like the Western Field Sparrow but liis 

 tail is much shorter, the wing-bands less distinct, 

 and the sides of the head gray, relie\-ed only bv a 

 w'liile eve-ring. 



BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW 



Spizella atrogularis ( Cabanis) 



General Description. — Length, 5',:J inches. Upper 

 parts, rusty-brown streaked with black; under parts, 

 black, gray, and white. Bill, small ; wings, rather long 

 and rather pointed ; tail, decidedly longer than wing, 

 double rounded, the feathers narrow and blunt. 



Color. — Adult M.\le: front farticui of check 

 region, chin, and ('art of throat, black; rest of head 

 and neck, gray, darker on crown, where sometimes 

 narrowly and indistinctly streaked with dusky, fading 

 into lighter gray or olive-gray on chest and other under 

 parts ; the abdomen, white ; back, liyht rusty-brown 

 or cinnamon streaked with black ; shoulders, similar 

 but with outer webs more decidedly rusty ; rump and 

 upper tail-coverts, plain gray or olive-gray ; tail, dusky ; 

 "ving-coverts, dusky centrally, broadly margined, and 

 tipped with pale cinnainon-buffy ; greater coverts, dusky 

 centrally broadly edged with pale buffy-brown or wood- 



brown ; primaries, dusky edyed witli pale grayish. 

 .\dult Fem.\i,e: Similar to tlie adult male and not 

 always distinguishable, but usually with the black of 

 chin, etc., duller and much less e.xtended, often entirely 

 wanting, the entire head being gray, and the gray of 

 crown and hindneck rather browner. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In low bushes, in deserts 

 of Lower California. Arizona, and New Mexico; con- 

 structed of grass, weed fibers, lined with fine grasses 

 and cow-hair. Eggs: 3 to 5, plain light greenish blue, 

 normally unmarked. 



Distribution. — More southern portions of south- 

 western United States and southward over Me.xican 

 plateau, north to southern California, Arizona, and 

 southwestern New Mexico ; Lower California, breed- 

 ing in more northern portions, south m winter to the 

 cape district. 



A visitor from the eastern United States to the 

 sagebrush regions of the southwest hears the 

 song of a bird which makes him exclaim : " Why, 

 all those bird-books are wrong ! That's a I'ield 

 Sparrow from home. I know his song." Then 

 he catches sight of a little bird the size of a 

 Chipping Sparrow, except for its longer tail. 

 Hut instead of the rusty brown crown of the 



Field Sparrow which he had expected to see, this 

 bird is a stranger with a gray head and a black- 

 patch on its throat. To his delight, the bird- 

 lover has added .1 new acquaintance to his list 

 — the Black-chinned Sparrow. r)n in(|llir^• he 

 finds that his new friend is fairly numerous 

 within its limited range. 



J. liLLIS BURDJCK. 



SLATE-COLORED JUNCO 

 Junco hyemalis hyemalis (LiiiiKciis) 



A. O. V. Xuml.er ;(i7 >ii- ( i,l„r I'l.atc Sj 



Other Names.— Snowbird ; Black Snowbird ; White 

 Bill ; Black Chipping Bird ; Common Snowbird ; Slate- 

 colored .Snowbird : Blue Snowbird : Eastern Junco. 



General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Fore and 

 upper parts, gray; under parts, white. Bill, small; 



wings, long and moderately rounded : tail, a little 

 shorter than wing, doulile-rounded. the feathers narrow 

 at the tips and blunt. 



Color. — Adi'i.t M.m.e: Head. neck, chest, upper 

 breast, sides, flanks, and upper parts, plain slate-color. 



