FRIXGILLIP.E — THE FINCHES. 279 



their migration. Pi-ofessor Forbes iuforms me of such an instance 

 which came under his own observation, as follows : 



"^^'hile on a recent trip to southern Illinois, I astonished myself 

 by shooting, June 9, one mile from the Ohio river, near Elizabeth- 

 town, in Hardin coi;nty, an adult specimen of the Common Snow- 

 bird (Jtinco hi/i'inalis). I killed the bird from a tree in the edge of 

 a wood. I neither heard nor saw another of the species there." 

 (See "}s'Httall Bulletin," July, 1881, p. 180.) 



Junco hyemalis oregonus (Towns.) 



OREGON JUNCO. 



Popular synonyms. Black-headed Snowbird; Oregon Snowbird. 



Friiigil'a oregona Towns. Jour. Phil. Ac. vii.lS37, 188.— AuD. Oru. Biog. v,1839.68. pi. .398. 

 Niphosa oregona A.VD. Synop. 1839, 1«7; B. Am. iii,lS41, 91.pl. 168. 



Junco oregonua Sci.. 1857.— Biir.D. B. N. Am. 185?, iW; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859. No. 352.— 



CouES, Key. 1872, 141; Checlc List, 1873. No. 175; 2d ed. 1S82. No. 263; B. N. W. 1874, 142. 



B. B. & E. Hist. N. Am. B. i, 1874, 584, pi. 26, Ug. 2.— Ridgw. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, 



No. 218. 



Hab. Paeiflc coast of North America, breeding from higher mountains ot southern 



California north to Sitka; in winter throughout the western United States, and even 



straggling to the Atlantic States (Kansas, lUiuois, etc.) 



In its habits and notes this bird is so completely a countei-part 

 of the common eastern Snowbird {J. hyemalis) that the writer is 

 unable to discover, from the accounts of writers or from his ovm 

 experience, any peculiarities whatsoever. It is, however, very differ- 

 ent in its plumage, as may be seen from the description given 

 above, and the comparative diagnoses on page 277. 



Genus PEUCJEA Audubon. 



Peucxa AuD. Synop. 1839,112. Type Fringilla barlnnanii AUD. 



"Gen. Chak. Bill moderate. Upper outlino and commissure decidedly curved. Legs 

 and feet, with the claws, small; the tarsus about eaual to the middle toe; the lateral toes 

 ciiual. their claws falling considerably short ut the middle one; the hind toe reaching 

 about to the middle of the latter. The outstretched foit reach rather beyond the middle 

 of the t.iil. The wing is very short, i-eaching only to the base of the tail; the longest ter- 

 tials do not exceed the secondaries, while both are not much short of the primaries; the 

 r.uter tliree or four (luills are graduated. The tail is considerably longerthan the wings; 

 it is much graduated laterally; the feathers, though long, are peculiarly narrow, linear, 

 and cUiptically rounded at the ends. 



"Color beneath plain whitish or brownish, with a more or less distinct dusky line 

 each side of the chin. Above with broad obsolete brown streaks or blotches. Crown 

 uniform, or the feathers edged with lighter." IHist. X. Am. B.) 



