JUNCO HYEMALIS. ^77 



JUNCO HYEMALIS. 



Black Snowbird. 



Junco hyemalis Sclater, Pro. Zool. Soc, 1857, 7. 



DESCRIPTION. 



Sr. Cn. Form, quite robust. Tongue, fleshy, not very horny at tip, which is provided with short, terminal, hair-lika 

 fibers. Sternum, as given under generic characters. Bill, quite sharp. 



Color. Atlull male in summer. Upper portion of body, including wings and tail, neck, breast and sides, slaty-black, 

 darkest anteriorly. Belly, abdomen, flanks, under tail coverts, under wing coverts and extreme outer edges of primaries, 

 white. Four outer tail feathers are always white and two others are more or less so colored. Bill pinkish, darker at tip 

 ami ba.«e of upper mauilible. Feet, brown. 



Female m sprini/. Similar to the spring male but having the slaty-black overwashed with rufous. Only two outer 

 tail feathers are wholly white. 



Adu/l in winter and Youny. Adult males in winter show more or less rufoas, while the females are more highly ting- 

 ed with it than in the spring. The young are well washed with rufous for the first year and the white of the tail is much 

 iess extended. 



Nesllinys. Are thickly streaked, above and below, with dusky, when they present a peculiar appearance 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Specimens, of the same age and sex, vary considerably in amount of rufous, especially above. The extension of the 

 white on the tail is also variable, but I never saw more than four feathers wholly white; a specimen, however, now before 

 me, ha-s the next pair nearly immaculate, there being only a basal spot on the inner webs and a very small terminal one on 

 the outer. This specimen Ls also remarkable as being the only one which I ever examined from the East that had any in- 

 dication of wing bars; in this case there are two which are quite distinct. This bird is very dark in color and altogether 

 ■somewhat resembles ^^Aik-enii." 



The jjresent species may be distinguished by tlie dark sides and absence of any decidedly red dorsal patch, such asLs to 

 be seen in Oreyonus and allied species. Distributed, in summer, throughout Northern New England, Canada, and along 

 the highlands and mountain ranges of Eastern United States, at least as far south as Virginia. Winters from the Atlantic 

 to the Rocky Mountains between the latitudes of Florida and Massachasetts. 



DLMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of twenty eight specimens. Length, 625; stretch, 9-80; wing, 3-00; tail, SCO; bill, -42; tarsus, 

 •75. Longest .specimen, 7-00; greatest extent of wing, 10-00; longest wing, 3-15; tail, 2-75; bill, -50; tarsus, -m. Smallest 

 spc( unon, 6-00; .stretch, 9-50; wing, 2-80; tail, 2-50; bill, -40; tarsus, -70. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



M'-s/s, placed on the ground. Composed of fine grasses and lined with the same material. Dimensions; external di- 

 ameter, l-OO, internal, 3-00. External depth, 200, internal, 100. 



Eijijs, four or fivo in number, oval in form, varying from white to bluLsh-white in color, spotted with reddish-brown and 

 iihif. Dimensions, fr^mi "70 x '55 to '75 x '60. 



HABITS. 



On December 31, 1876, I was standing on the deck of the yacht Nina, sailing down 

 Ciilibogue Sound, before a fine breeze. We moved swiftly pasta point of land, which 

 shut out a view to the eastward, then the open ocean came into sight, and, in the dis- 

 tance, just to the southward, I recognized Tybce Light at the mouth of the Savannah 

 River. Nearer, to the right of where the Sound opens into the sea, lay Daufuskio Islaml. 

 It Wiis covered with an exuberant growth of trees, mainly i)almettos and live oaks, which 

 foinu^d a wall of verdure, again.st which the white tower of the range beacon stood out in 

 stmng relief; while the keeper's dwelling peeped out from among the green foliage. The 

 wliol's was fronted by a clean sandy beach, which rose tdjruptly from the sparkling water, 

 forming ;i iioiit foreground for one of the prettiest pictures that I had ever seen. Sweeping 



