310 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Bill." Mr. William L. Kells states that in Ontario, the Slate-colored 

 Junco selects various 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 vegeta- 

 tion. The nest is made of dry grasses, warmly and smoothly lined 

 with hair. Mr. Kells says the bird generally begins to nest the first 

 week of May, and nests with eggs are found as late as August. The 

 set of eggs is usually four or five in number, of a whitish color, vary- 

 ing to a greenish- white, more or less speckled with reddish-brown, with 

 an average size of .78 x .57. A set of four eggs taken by J. A. Dakin, 

 on May 4, in Onondaga county. New York, measure .75X.50, .76 x 

 .56, .78X.57, .Sox .58. A nest of this species was found on the rafters 

 of a barn in Connecticut. 



* * Junco hyemalis carolinensis Brewst. 



Carolina Junco. 



Hab. Higher portions of the southern Alleghanies. 



According to Mr. Wm. Brewster this new variety of the Black 

 Snowbird differs from J. hyemalis in being larger, with lighter, 

 bluer and more uniform coloration, and a horn-colored instead of pink- 

 ish-white or yellowish bill. Mr. Brewster found this bird at Highlands 

 and on the Black Mountains of Western North Carolina. He states 

 that it is probable that the birds represent the form which breeds on 

 the mountains of Virginia and Pennsylvania. 



Two sets of eggs are in Mr. Brewster's collection taken by Mr. 

 Boynton, at Highlands, respectively June 30 and July 7, 1885. " The 

 eggs are larger than those of hyemalis but similar in color and mark- 

 ings." The nests are also larger and composed of coarser material, 

 although both are neatly lined with horse-hair. The one collected 

 July 7 was placed "in a bank by the roadside," a site often chosen by 

 our northern birds, but the other was built in a berry bush, fozir feet 

 above the groimd. Both sets of eggs were perfectly fresh, a fact which 

 proves that the bird breeds very irregularly and probably twice at 

 least in the same season.* 



Mr. George B. Sennett found this species breeding in the moun- 

 tains of Western North Carolina. On Roan Mountain the birds were ex- 

 ceedingly abundant at an altitude of 6300 feet. In the latter half of April 

 they were paired and building, and many complete nests were discov- 

 ered. Fresh-laid eggs and young in all stages were found in July. 

 The nests were found in all sorts of places — in the open fields, among 

 the grass hummocks, along the edge of cow-paths, myrtle tussocks, 



':<Auk. Ill, pp. 109 — 110. 



