June, 1906. 
The Irish Naturalish 
137 
THE AMERICAN SNOWBIRD IN IREIvAND. 
BY R. M. BARRINGTON, I.I..B., F.I,.S. 
When the Fourth International Ornithological Congress was 
held in I^ondon in June last year at the Imperial Institute, I 
had the satisfaction of showing to many friends at this in- 
teresting meeting a bird not only new to the British Isles, 
but also to Europe. It was shot within fifty yards of Loop 
Head lighthouse, Co. Clare, on May 30, 1905, by Mr. J. 
Watson. 
It arrived when I was absent from home, and my wife 
having compared it with the description of every European 
Finch and Bunting, failed to locate the species. My old 
friend, the late Edward Williams, was puzzled, but suggested 
a melanism of the Chaffinch. To this I demurred — though 
its size and shape and slate-coloured appearance would 
perhaps come near such a variety. At the Congress I opened 
the box containing the specimen in the presence of one of our 
best British ornithologists. He hesitated momentarily, and 
Mr. Seth-Smith, editor of the Avicultural Magazine, coming 
past, instantly recognized the bird as Junco hiemalis^ Catesby — 
the North American Snowbird. Chapman, Dwight, and other 
American representatives present, confirmed this opinion, and 
were greatly interested in the specimen., which probably 
crossed the Atlantic about the same time as they did. It was, 
they said, the common eastern form of this variable species. 
Seth-Smith, who is so familiar with aviaries, said he had never 
seen this species in confinement, and that in the United States 
it is not caged. The specimen was just in right plumage for 
a wild bird at the time of year. 
The adults of the genus Junco (pronounced yoon-co), are 
unspotted and unstreaked, and have the colours massed in 
large definite areas. It is a more homogeneous group than 
many recognized genera, and confined to the American 
continent. /. hiemalis is found chiefly in the Eastern vStates, 
where it is a familiar bird from October till April — bright and 
cheery, and coming fearlessly to the threshold and window-sill 
A 
