678 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



This species has a considerably larger hill than Z. kiuvphrijs, the mandible 

 especially. 



Habits. This species was first described in 1840, by Mr. Nuttall, from 

 specimens obtained by him near Independence, Mo., near the close of the 

 month of April. He again met with them on the following 5th of May, 

 when not far from the banks of the Little Vermilion Kiver, a branch of the 

 Kansas. He found them frequenting thickets, and uttering, chiefly in tlie 

 early morning, but also occasionally at other parts of the day, a long, drawling, 

 faint, solemn, and monotonous succession of notes, resembling te-de-de-de. 



Since tlien but little additional information lias been obtained in regard to 

 their general habits, their geographical distribution, or their mode of breeding, 

 single specimens only having been taken at considerable intervals in the 

 valley of the Missouri and elsewhere until 1872. Two specimens were se- 

 cured by Mr. Dresser, near San Antonio, in Western Texas, occurring on the 

 Medina River during their spring migrations. More recently this bird was- 

 taken twice by Mr. H. W. Parker, in Jasper County, Iowa. The latest of 

 these was secured May 19. « 



Professor F. H. Snow, in his List of Kansas Birds, published April, 1872, 

 enumerates this species as a bird frequently taken in Kansas in the winter, 

 and probably resident ; and j\Ir. J. A. Allen (American Naturalist, May, 

 1872) states that Harris's Finch was, next to the Cardinal, the most abundant 

 species of the family of Sparrows and Finches in the vicinity of Leaven- 

 worth, as it was also one of the largest and handsomest. He found it almost 

 exclusively frequenting the damper parts of the woods, associating with the 

 White-throated Sparrow, much resembling it both in habits and in song. 

 Nothing has so far been published respecting the nest and eggs. 



Genus JUNCO, Wagler. 



Junco, Wagler, Isis, 1831. (Type, Fringilla cinerea, Sw.) 

 Niphoea, Audubon, Syn. 1839. (Type, Embcriza hycmalis, Gm.) 



Gen. Char. 



Bill small, conical ; culmen curved at the tip ; the lower jaw quite as high 



as the upper. Tarsus longer than the 

 middle toe ; outer toe longer than the 

 inner, barely reaching to the base of the 

 middle claw ; hind toe reaching as far as 

 the middle of the latter; extended toes 

 reaching about to the middle of the tail. 

 Wings rather short ; reaching over the 

 basal fourth of the exjiosed surface of 

 the tail; primaries, however, considera- 

 bly longer than the secondaries and ter- 

 tials, which are nearly equal. The second 

 quill longest, the third to fifth successive- 

 ly but little shorter ; first longer than 



32411 3 



Junco oregonus 



sixth, much exceeding secondaries. 



Tail moderate, a little shorter than the wings ; slightly 



