SNOW-BIRDS. 



125 



bluish grey ; tail dusky, washed and edged with bluish ; 

 under surface greyish-brown, the throat, abdomen and 

 tips of under tail-coverts buffish white. Habitat, " Texas ; 

 Michigan rarely; Lower California, breeding. Central 

 America : Mexico and Guatemala." Sharpe. 



All that J. G. Cooper tells us (" Ornith. Calif.," Vol. I., 

 p. 235), is : " This beautiful bird is not rare at Cape St. 

 Lucas, where it breeds ; the nest and eggs, and the 

 habits of the bird itself, likewise, are probably much 

 like those of C. am&na." 



Mr. Beebe has given very little information about this 

 species in his " Two Bird-lovers in Mexico." He tells us, 

 p. 1550, that the male utters a rather sweet but simple 

 song, and at p. 394 (Appendix) : " Common only along 

 the edges of the barranca streams and on the Colima 

 trail, in company with flocks of Black-headed Gros- 

 beaks." I do not know where more information can 

 be obtained. I have looked through many volumes in 

 vain. 



Dr. Russ tells us that this "Western Nonpareil," 

 " Varied Bunting," or whatever it is decided to call it, 

 has always been extremely rare in the European market. 

 I can quite believe that, but there is always a chance 

 that it may come in some consignment from Central 

 America. 



AMERICAN SNOW-BIRD* (Junco hiemalis). 



" Head, neck, chest, upper breast, sides, flanks, and 

 upper parts plain slate-colour, darker on head, where 

 approaching slate-black on pileuim, rather paler (ap- 

 proaching slate-grey) on rump and sides ; lower breast, 

 abdomen, anal region, and under tail-coverts white; six 

 middle tail-feathers slate-blackish, edged with slate 

 greyish ; two outermost tail-feathers white (the second 

 sometimes dusky at base and edged with dusky toward 

 tip), the third white and dusky (the latter usually 

 predominating) ; bill (in life) pinkish or lilaceous white, 

 with dusky tip (at least in winter) ; iris dark reddish 

 brown or claret purple ; tarsi light brownish, toes usually 

 darker." Adult female. Similar to adult male, but the 

 slate colour rather lighter (sometimes decidedly so), and 

 the second tail-feather always (?) partly dusky." 

 Ridgway. Habitat, " N. America, chiefly east of the 

 Rocky Mountains, breeding from the higher parts of 

 the Alleghanies, northern New York, and Northern New 

 England northwards. South in winter to the Gulf 

 States." (Cf. A.O.U. Check-List.) 



The following account of the life habits is a free 

 translation from Russ's work; he quotes from various 

 American authors, and then gives his own experiences : 

 According to Gentry, this species appears in Pennsyl- 

 vania in cold seasons as early as the middle of October, 

 but usually in November. At first one notices it in 

 meadows, fields, and the outskirts of woods, but with 

 the fall of snow and increased cold it is driven by 

 hunger to the vicinity of human habitations, when it 

 becomes confiding and even impudent and feeds on scraps 

 in courtyards and gardens. 



In the autumn berries and seeds serve it for food ; in 

 winter it eagerly devours the seeds of all kinds of weeds 

 as well as the eggs and pupa? of insects ;' in the spring it 

 feeds on the anthers and stalks of the flowers of various 

 plants ; an examination of the crop revealed red ants, 

 etc., in addition to seeds and grit. 



The flight is low, undulating, and fairly rapid. When 

 feeding one usually sees it on the ground, and as a rule 

 it does not perch high in a thicket, rarely at the tops 

 of high trees. 



Though confiding and bold, it is frequently shy and 



* From their habits I should judge that the Snow-birds would 

 benefit by a more varied seed diet ; I should offer thf m canary, 

 millet, German, rape, oats, and hemp. Insects should of course 

 be given. 



nervous ; it lives in flocks, starts up with every unusual 

 sound, but wheels round again to the same spot. The 

 call-note is tsic. 



In the spring, as soon as it returns to the outskirts of 

 the woods, etc., it becomes far more distrustful and at 

 the same time more sprightly. It always repeats its 

 joyous song in the following syllables twee-twee-twee-ah, 

 twee-e-e-e-e-ah. It somewhat resembles that of the 

 Pigmy Sparrow, F. pusilla, but is neither so loud nor 

 so prolonged. Extraordinary discrepancies occur in the 

 migration of this species ; for instance, in the last third 

 of June, 1875, the Snow-finches were as abundant here 

 as in the winter, and were, moreover cheerful and lively. 

 This late stay also was accounted for by the remark- 

 ably long duration of the winter, and I conclude there- 

 fore that their breeding-place could not be far from 

 here, probably in the nearest mountains. 



The Snow-finch is next said to breed only at high 

 elevations. The nest is placed on the ground in scanty 

 scrub and grassy plains, and is concealed under tufts 

 of grass, roots, or dead leaves ; it is constructed 

 externally of coarse bents, grasses, and straw, fine roots, 

 strips of bark, and horsehair, woven together, and lined 

 with soft moss and animal wool ; the cavity is deep and 

 wide compared with the size of the bird. The eggs are 

 yellowish-white, thickly sprinkled, especially at the 

 larger end where they sometimes unite into a patch, 

 with small reddish or dark chocolate spots. 



Russ says that this bird seldom appears in the market, 

 which is certainly true so far as our market is concerned, 

 though I have seen one or tw r o specimens at long 

 intervals, and I believe I have also met with it at one 

 or two bird-shows ; he says that Reiche and Hagenbeck 

 received it as a rule haphazard and singly and he 

 believes that several pairs were only received on one 

 occasion. He continues as follows :- " The first pair I 

 received from Karl Hagenbeck in 1868, and I was 

 delighted by their strangely great sprightliness, their 

 pretty and graceful movements and their soft, mono- 

 tonous, but not unpleasing song. They scon began 

 nesting." 



" In my birdrooin I kept the above-mentioned pair in 

 excellent condition for some years and they nested 

 almost regularly nearly every year in March until the 

 end of May. The very small nest was constructed by 

 both mates of grass-stems, strips of paper, and threads 

 of worsted, and lined with horsehair. At the begin- 

 ning, however, owing to their already mentioned spright- 

 liness, they never reared the young, or deserted the nest 

 at the slightest alarm. A second pair was the first to 

 rear several broods ; one in the first year and two in the 

 second, each time consisting of three young from three 

 to four eggs. Incubation lasts twelve days ; the female 

 alone incubates, is fed by the male and assiduously 

 defended, and both together bring up the young." 



OREGON SNOW-BIRD (Junco or Kg onus). 

 Head, neck, and breast all round black, slightly duller 

 and more slaty on throat and breast ; back and scapulars 

 dull chocolate ; rump, upper tail-coverts, lesser and 

 middle wing-coverts dull mouse-grey ; greater coverts, 

 flights and tail-feathers blackish with greyish edges, 

 but the inner wing-feathers browner than the others ; 

 two outermost tail-feathers mostly white, and the third 

 partly white towards the tip : sides and flanks rusty 

 cinnamon, the latter suffused with mouse-brown ; central 

 portion of body below, including back of chest, 

 aHdomen and under tail-coverts white; beak pinkish - 

 white, slightly dusky at tip (becoming waxy yellow after 

 death) ; feet pale brown, the toes and claws slightly 

 darker; irides reddish brown. Female with head, neck, 

 and chest slate grey, the crown and nape browner ; the 

 back and scapulars paler brown ; rump, upper tail- 



