THE SLATE-COLORED JUNCO. 



LACK SNOWBIRD, in 

 most of the United States 

 K^ J and in Ontario, where it 

 is a common resident, 

 and White Bill, are names more often 

 applied to this species of Sparrow than 

 the one of Junco, by which it is known 

 to ornithologists. It nests in the 

 mountains of northern Pennsylvania, 

 New York, and New England, and is 

 a resident throughout the year in north- 

 eastern Ohio, and in Michigan. In all 

 probability, the Snowbird does not 

 breed, even occasionally, anywhere 

 within the limits of the state of 

 Illinois, though individuals may in 

 very rare instances be found several 

 weeks after others have departed for 

 the north, these having probably 

 received some injury which prevents 

 their migration. Prof Forbes refers 

 to such an instance, which came under 

 his own observation. He saw on a 

 tree in the edge of a wood, in 

 the southern part of the state, an 

 adult specimen of the Junco, and 

 only one. which, he says, astonished 

 him. 



Mr. William L. Kells states that in 

 Ontario this Junco selects a variety of 

 places for nesting sites, such as the up- 

 turned roots of trees, crevices in banks, 

 under the sides of logs and stumps, a 

 cavity under broken sod, or in the 

 shelter of grass or other veoetation. 

 The nest is made of dry grasses, warmly 

 and smoothly lined with hair. The 

 bird generally begins to nest the first 

 week of May, and nests with eggs are 

 found as late as August. A nest of 

 the Junco was found on the rafters of 

 a barn in Connecticut. 



Almost any time after the first of 

 October, little excursion parties of 

 Juncos may be looked for, and the 

 custom continues all winter long. 

 When you become acquainted with 

 him, as you surely will, during his 



visit, you will like him more and more 

 for his cheerful habits. He will 

 come to your back door, and pre- 

 sent his little food petition, very 

 merrily indeed. He is very friendly 

 with the Chick-a-dee, and they are 

 often seen together about in the barn- 

 yards, and he even ventures within the 

 barn when seeds are frozen to the 

 ground, 



" The Doctor, " in Citizen Bird, tells 

 this pretty story of his winter pets : 



" My flock of Juncos were de- 

 termined to brave all weathers. First 

 they ate the seeds of all the weeds and 

 tall grasses that reached above the 

 snow, then they cleaned the honey- 

 suckles of their watery black berries. 

 When these were nearly gone, I began 

 to feed them every day with crumbs, 

 and they soon grew very tame. At 

 Christmas an ice storm came, and after 

 that the cold was bitter indeed. For 

 two days I did not see my birds; but on 

 the third day, in the afternoon, when 

 I was feeding the hens in the barn- 

 yard, a party of feeble, half-starved 

 Juncos, hardly able to fly, settled down 

 around me and began to pick at the 

 chicken food. I knew at a glance that 

 after a few hours more exposure all 

 the poor little birds would be dead. So 

 I shut up the hens and opened the 

 door of the straw-barn very wide, 

 scattered a quantity of meal and cracked 

 corn in a line on the floor, and crept 

 behind the door to watch. First one 

 bird hopped in and tasted the food ; he 

 found it very good and evidently called 

 his brothers, for in a minute they all 

 went in and I closed the door upon 

 them. And I slept better that night, 

 because I knew that my birds were 

 comfortable." The next afternoon 

 they came back again. " I kept them 

 at night in this way for several weeks, 

 arid one afternoon several Snowflakes 

 came in with them. (See page 150.) 



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