JUNCO. — 313 
bird is a great favorite in the North, and justly so. It is 
one of the sweetest songsters of the localities where it 
is found; and, having no bad precedents with the farmer, 
‘and being of a sociable, lively disposition, it is no wonder 
that it meets with great favor. 
The song of this species is very beautiful. It is difficult of 
description, but resembles nearly the syllables ’chéa dée de; 
dé-d-de,-dé-d-de, dé-d-de, dé-d-de, uttered at first loud and 
clear, and rapidly falling in tone and decreasing in volume. 
This is chanted during the morning and the latter part of 
the day, and, in cloudy weather, through the whole day. I 
have often heard it at different hours of the night, when 
Ihave been encamped in the deep forests ; and the effect, at 
that time, was indescribably sweet and plaintive. The fact 
that the bird often sings in the night has given it the name 
of the “ Nightingale”? in many localities; and the title is 
well earned. 
While in its spring and autumn migrations, this Sparrow 
prefers low moist thickets and young woods; but, in its sum- 
mer home, it is found equally abundant in fields, pastures, 
swamps, and forests. 
It feeds on insects, various seeds, and berries, and some- 
times pursues flying insects in the manner of the preceding 
species. 
About the last week in October, the birds, after congre- 
gating in loose flocks of a dozen or fifteen, leave New Eng- 
land for their winter homes. 
JUNCO, WAGLER. 
Junco, WAGLER, Isis (1881). (Type Fringilla cinerea, Sw.) 
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 exposed surface of the tail; primaries, 
however, considerably longer than the nearly equal secondaries and tertials; the 
second quill longest, the third to fifth successively but little shorter; first longer than 
sixth, much exceeding secondaries; tail moderate, a little shorter than the wings; 
