FRINGILLID^: FINCHES, BUNTINGS, SPAIIROWS, ETC. 377 
mandible sometimes yellowish. Decidedly larger than helli proper, though so little different in 
color; wing and tail fully 3.00, if not more; bill 0.35; tarsus 0.75. Southern Rocky Mt- 
region, N. to 40° and beyond, resident ; abounding in the sage-brush deserts of Nevada, 
Utah, New Mexico and Arieona. Nesting as in P. belli; eggs 0.80 x 0.60, pale greenish, pro- 
fusely speckled with reddish-brown and blackish-brown, with purplish shell-markings. 
JUN'CO. (f Lat. juncus, a reed.) Snow Sparrows. Snow-birds. Bill small, strictly 
conic. Wings rather long, the primaries much surpassing the short inner secondaries in the 
closed wing ; usually 2d, 3d, and 4th quills longest, 5th little shorter, then 1st and 6th. Tarsus 
a little longer than middle toe and claw ; lateral toes subequal, their claws about reaching base 
of middle claw. Tail about as long as wings, slightly emarginate or about even, of rather 
narrow but firm feathers, rounded oval at ends. A beautiful genus ; adults unspotted, 
unstreaked, the colors massed in large definite areas ; belly, crissum, and 2-3 lateral tail-feathers 
white ; bill whitish, or black and yellow. Length 6 or 7 inches ; wing and tail about 3 inches. 
Sexes subsimilar, but ^ clearer and purer in coloration ; young entirely different, quite streaky. 
Nest on the ground ; eggs speckled. One common Eastern species ; in the West the J unco 
stock split into numerous forms, all of which intergrade with each other, and with the Eastern 
bird. Almost all late writers have taken a hand at Junco, shuffling them about in the vain 
attempt to decide which are species" and which varieties." All are either, or both, as we 
may elect to consider them ; for the degree of difference between almost any two of the nearest 
related ones is about the same. The distinctions between the typical styles of each are very 
nice and easily perceived. The theory of hybridization advanced to account for the connecting' 
links simply restates without explaining the case ; for interbreeding is just one of the conditions 
of intergraded species, keeping them from positive distinctness. Upon this understanding the 
recognizable styles of Junco may all be treated alike. Adult male birds of the several forms 
afford the following 
Analysis of Species or Subspecies. 
Bill flesh-color. 
Blackish-ash, without reddish tints ; sides ashy. 
No white wing-bars hiemalis 2G1 
Two white Aving-bars aikeni 262 
(mixed characters of first and next connectens 262« 
Sooty-black on head and breast ; back reddish ; sides pinkish oregontbs 263 
(mixed characters of last and next annectens 264 
Ashy on head and breast; interscapulars alone reddish caniceps 265 
Bill black and yellow. 
(mixed characters of last and next dorsalis 266 
Ashy on head and breast ; interscapulars and wing-coverts reddish cinereus 267 
Setting aside aikeni as a special offshoot, we have hiemalis connected with oregonus by 
birds possessing pink sides and ashy back, or reddish back and ashy sides ; this style may be 
named connectens. Similarly, oregonus and caniceps are annexed by gray-headed red-backed 
birds with pink sides ; this is annectens. And again, but more remarkably, the pink-billed 
caniceps is affixed with the black-and-yellow-billed cinereus by dorsalis, which has the bill of 
the latter, but otherwise resembles the former. 
J. hiemalis. (Lat. hiemalis, wintry ; hiems, winter. Fig. 236.) Eastern Snow-bird. 
Black Snow-bird. Blackish-ash, below abruptly pure white from the breast, the sides shaded 
with ashy. In the 9 , and most fall and winter specimens, the upper parts have a more grayish, 
or even a decidedly brownish, cast, and the inner secondaries are edged with pale bay. ^ , in full 
dress : The slaty-black intense on the head ; belly and crissum pure white, the line between 
the two transverse or convex forward ; wings and tail blackish, with slightly hoary edging of 
some of the feathers ; 2-3 lateral tail feathers pure white, wholly or in greatest part. No rusty- 
brown on back or sides; any shade on the sides ashy, not pinkish. Bill pinkish- white, or 
flesh-color, usually black-tipped. Length 6.00-6.50 ; extent 9.50-10.00 ; wing 3.00-3.25 ; tail 
rather less. These extremes uncommon; average 6.25 — 9.75 — 3.10. 9, in summer: The 
