430 



SYSTEMA TIC SYNOPSIS. — PA SSERES — OSCINES. 



Sooty blackish, with reddish-brown back. Pacific coast region oregonus 



Like the last ; coloration less vivid. 



Rocky mountain region at large and eastward connectens 



Sierra Nevada and Coast range of California . . thurberi 



Bay of Monterey, California pinosus 



Clear ash, with reddish interscapulars and blackish lores. Rocky Mts. at large . . . nnnec/ens 



Like the last. Arizona and New Mexico to Wyoming . ridgwayi 



Like the last. Lower California lownsendi 



Sides ashy, like the breast. Clear ash, witli reddish interscapulars and blackish lores. Rocky Mts. 



ca?i)ceps 



Insular species, with very short wings and tail. Guadalupe Isl insularis 



Bill black and yellow ; eyes yellow. 



Sides pinkish. Lower California bairdi 



Sides ashy. 



Reddish of back confined to the interscapulars. New Mexico and Arizona dor.^nlis 



Reddish of back spreading on the wings. Southern Arizona palliatus 



J. ai'keni. (To C. E. Aikeu, of Colorado.) AVhite-winged Snowbird. Aiken's Junco. 

 Adult : Plain plumbeous-gray, ueither blackish ou head nor tinged with pinkish anywhere, 

 but uniform on back, head, breast, and sides ; belly, crissum, and lateral tail-feathers white, as 

 usual in this genus ; VA'ings crossed with two conspicuous white bars formed by tips of greater 

 and median coverts, and sometimes inner secondaries edged with white. Bill nearly or quite 

 as in hiemalis. Large, the average being at if not beyond the maximum of hiemalis ; J, 

 length, 6.25 to nearly 7.00; wing 3.20-3.60, averaging about 3.40; tail 3.25 or more; bill over 

 0.50; tarsus 0.85; 9 I'ather smaller. Young of the year after the first moult resemble adults, 

 but diflfer in having no white wiug-bars, or these only indicated by two rows of small white 

 dots, and the gray somewhat overcast with brown. (J", h. danhyi of COUES, Nidologist, iii, 

 1895, p. 14 : see CoUES, Auk, Jan. 1897, p. 94.) A good species, readily distinguished from 

 hiemalis in any plumage ; the appearance in life is quite different, as I ascertained during a 

 visit to the Black Hills of S. Dakota and Wyoming in 1895. It breeds abundantly there, but 



_^_- -^ _ disappears in the fall, retiring S., chiefly in 



,*A? the mountains, to Colorado, where it winters, 



aud also straggles E. to Kansas. The whtde 



geographical range is quite restricted. 



J. liiema'lis. (Lat. 7wemr<Zis, wintry ; hicmSf 



winter. Fig. 286.) Eastern Snowbird. 



Black Snowbird. Slate-colored Junco. 



Blackish-ash, below abruptly pure white from 



the breast, the sides sliaded with ashy. In the 



- 9 > ^wJ most fall and winter specimens, the 



upper parts have a more grayish, or even a 



decidedly brownish, cast, and the inner second- 



^ ^^^ aries are edged with pale bay. ^, in full dress : 



^^ Jy^^^^^^FJi^'' " Slaty-black intense on head ; belly and crissum 



>£^_kiy'' jf^A^^^^l^^yt ~ P"^'^ vvhite, the line bet\A-een the two trans- 



^I— "^ \^^.^^< ^m ^m^^^^i^ - '^ erse or convex forward ; wings and tail black- 



^"^-^"^T .^/—tl^^^'-^)]^^^!^— ~ -^~ ^s^' ^^'ith slightly hoary edging of some feath- 



^^^~" Jr ^^''^'^^^'^n ~~^ =^ T^ ^""^ ' ^~'^ l«iteral tail feathers pure white, wholly 



^/ I J ~' ^ or in greatest part. No rusty-brown on back 



Fig. 286. —Eastern Snowbird. (Sheppard del. Nich- or sides ; any shade on sides ashy, not pinkish. 



Bill pinkish-white, or flesh-color, usually black- 

 tipped. Length 6.00-6.50; extent 9.50-10.00; wing 3.00-3.25; tail rather less. These ex- 

 tremes uncommon ; average 6.25-9.75—3.10. 9 , in summer : Slate-color less intense, overlaid 

 with brown (not reddish), sometimes quite brown; edging of inner secondaries rusty-brown; 



