Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



nounced by a sharp "tchip," followed by a rapid chipping as it 

 flies. 



The bill of the adult male junco is pinkish or lilaceous 

 white; the iris dark reddish brown or claret blue; the head, 

 neck, chest, upper breast, sides, flanks and upper parts are 

 a plain slate-color; darkest on the head, which is sometimes 

 almost black and marked like a cowl ; six middle tail feathers, 

 slate-blackish, edged with slate-grayish ; two outermost tail 

 feathers white, the third white and dusky; the lower breast, 

 abdomen, anal region and under tail coverts white ; tarsi light 

 brownish, toes usually darker. The adult female is similar to 

 the male, except that the slate-color is lighter. Mr. Parkhurst 

 suggestively describes the bird as "Leaden skies above ; snow 



below." 



"When snow, like silence visible, 



Hath hushed the summer bird, 

 Thy voice, a never frozen rill 



Of melody, is heard. 

 But when from winter's lethargy 



The buds begin to blow, 

 Thy voice is mute, and suddenly 



Thou vanishest like the snow." 



In the springtime before leaving us for its home in the 

 far north it has, as Mr. Bicknell describes it, "a crisp call-note, 

 a simple trill, and a faint, whispered warble, usually much 

 broken, but not without sweetness." Some attention is 

 given to mating before the juncos leave us in April. They 

 nest in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania, New York. 

 and New England, and throughout their range, from Minne- 

 sota northward. Nest building is begun during the first half 

 of May. They select a variety of places for nesting sites, such 

 as the upturned 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 vegetation. The nest is made of dry 

 grasses, moss and rootlets, lined with hair or other fine ma- 

 terial. Three to five whitish eggs, speckled with reddish 

 brown constitute a set. I am without data and information 

 as to the incubation habits of the junco but surmise that they 

 are much like those of the sparrows of which family it is a 

 member. 



