104 BIRDS 



flies jerkily to the nearest cover. A bird with such small 

 wings could not be expected to be a graceful flyer. 



I The Junco 



Length — 5.5 to 6.5 inches. About the size of the English 

 sparrow. 



Male — Upper parts slate-colored; darkest on head and 

 neck, which are sometimes almost black and marked like 

 a cowl. Gray on breast, like a vest. Underneath 

 white. Several outer tail feathers white, conspicuous 

 in flight. 



Female — Lighter gray, inclining to brown. 



Range — ^North America. Not common in warm latitudes. 

 Breeds in the Catskills and northern New England. 



Migrations — September. April. Winter resident. 



When the skies are leaden and the first flurries of snow 

 warn us that winter is near, flocks of juncos, or slate- 

 colored snow birds as they are sometimes called, that re- 

 flect the leaden skies on their backs, and the grayish-white 

 snow on their breasts, come from the North to spend the 

 winter. A few enter New England as early as September, 

 but by Thanksgiving increased numbers are foraging for 

 their dinner among the roadside thickets, in the furrows of 

 ploughed fields, on the ground near evergreens, about the 

 barn-yard and even at the dog's plate beyond the kitchen 

 door. They are easily attracted close to the house by 

 waste canary seed and sweepings from the hay loft. 



Notice how abruptly the slate-gray color of the junco's 

 mantle ends in a straight line across his light breast, and 

 how, when he flies away, the white feathers on either side 



