SLATE-COLORED JUNCO 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES 

 Educational Leaflet No. 96 



HE coming of Autumn brings many changes 

 in the bird world. The Orioles and Tanagers 

 depart. The Warblers leave and other famil- 

 iar birds of summer disappear. 



Then comes the White-throated Sparrow, 

 the Tree sparrow, the Sapsucker, and other 

 visitors from the North. Among these new 

 arrivals, but not the first to appear, is the 

 Slate-colored Junco. In thousands of door- 

 yards they are rarely seen until the first fall 

 of snow. Upon looking out of the window 

 some morning one may see a dozen or more 

 little birds flying about in the shrubbery or 

 hopping around the doorway, looking for 

 seeds or stray crumbs. Other small birds 

 have this habit at times, but by the follow- 

 ing signs you may know the Junco : 

 It is very nearly the size of an English Sparrow with this difference, 

 its body is not so large and its tail is slightly longer. Its general color 

 is dark gray, except the belly which is white. The bill is flesh colored 

 and when it flies white feathers are shown at the sides of the tail. 

 This description fits no other bird. Bear these points in mind and 

 you cannot miss recognizing the Junco when he comes to visit you. 



This little bird of the winter has many friends. Coming as it does 

 at a season when other birds are few, and visiting w 

 the door-yard as it frequently does, there is small 

 wonder that many people know it and hail with pleasure its appearance 

 from year to year. "Snowbird" it is often called. 



After the summer birds, and the migrants that are with us only 

 for a time have departed, and the bird-life has settled down to the 

 usual scant winter population, the Junco appears more in evidence 

 than when it first arrived late in September. Then you will find 

 them associated in flocks numbering from ten to fifty or more along 

 the roadside skirted by thickets or in avergrown fence corners. Fields 

 grown up in shrubbery and the borders of wood lands are also favorite 

 haunts for these small winter neighbors. Here you will see them 

 hopping about on the ground or alighting on limbs or stakes. Always 

 they seem to be in such places that upon the call of danger they can 

 dart by a short flight into the friendly cover of shrubbery or trees. 



