Brewer's Notes on Junco Caniccps. 73 



whether there is more than one species that breed in the high moun- 

 tain-regions of Colorado. I use the word " species " for the mere 

 convenience of expression, but not as assuming that the several 

 forms of cinerens, clorsalis, caniceps, etc. are hotia fide species. 



There are in the Smithsonian collection well-identified sets of the 

 eggs of Junco ciuereus, dorsalis, and canicep!<, one set of each. Of 

 course this is not enough to establish the typical peculiarities of 

 their eggs. The set of Junco ciuereus were taken by Mr. Henshavv 

 in the mountains of Southern Arizona, at an altitude of 9,500 feet. 

 It was taken August 1st, the eggs were fresh, and it was probably 

 the second laying of the season. They appeared to me to be of an 

 unmixed greenish or bluish white. When taken they were said, 

 while almost immaculate, to show the presence of a few minute 

 punctate reddish-brown spots, irregularly disposed over the surface, 

 and Mr. Heushaw writes me, under date of February 18, 1878, " two 

 of the four eggs still show the minute reddish-brown punctulations 

 — they can scarcely be said to be spots — alluded to in my report, 

 though these are fainter than when first collected. There are per- 

 haps twenty of these isolated dots scattered over the surface ; with- 

 out a critical notice the eggs would be passed by as iminaculate. 

 The ground-color of these eggs is now a dead bluish-white, and 

 shows no trace of green." * 



The set of Junco dorsalis was also taken by Mr. Henshaw in the 

 mountains near Camp Apache, Arizona. These four eggs had the 

 same pale greenish-white ground-color, and all exhibit, on careful 

 examination, brownish-red spots, very minute, and scattered over 

 the whole surface, — in one egg much more abundantly, — forming a 

 confluent curve around the larger end. The eggs of the two sets 

 are about equal in size, ranging from .84 to .77 of an inch in length, 

 and averaging about .63 in breadth. 



" The set of Junco caniceps,^' Mr. Henshaw writes me, " were taken 

 in Colorado by Mr. J. H. Batty. There were originally five in the 

 nest. The measurement of the remaining four are .82 x .61, .83 x 

 .61, .78 X .60 .86 X .62 ; ground-color bluish-white (probably origi- 

 nally with a tinge of greenish), profusely overlaid with small ii*regu- 

 lar spots, and blotches of reddish-brown and lilac. The eggs of this 

 set vary considerably in the amount of markings and the manner 

 of distribution. In two these consist of minute punctulations that 



* 111 his report Mr. Henshaw describes it as greenish-white. 



