SLATE-COLORED JUNCO 



By T. GILBERT PEARSON 



^t Rational Basiotiatitm ot Hutiubon ^ocittitfi 



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 familiar 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 dooryards 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- color, 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 the dooryard, 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 Juncos appear more in evidence than when they 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 overgrown fence 

 corners. Fields grown up in shrubbery and the borders of woodlands are also 

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

 ping 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. 



(252) 



