Brewer’s Notes on Junco Caniceps. 
73 
whether there is more than one species that breed in the high moun- 
tain-regions of Colorado. I use the word “ species ” for the mere 
convenience of expression, but not as assuming that the several 
forms of cinereus , dorsalis , caniceps, etc. are bona fide species. 
There are in the Smithsonian collection well-identified sets of the 
eggs of Junco cinereus , dorsalis , and caniceps , one set of each. Of 
course this is not enough to establish the typical peculiarities of 
their eggs. The set of Junco cinereus were taken by Mr. Henshaw 
in the mountains of Southern Arizona, at an altitude of 9,500 feet. 
It was taken August 1st, the eggs were fresh, and it was probably 
the second laying of the season. They appeared to me to be of an 
unmixed greenish or bluish white. When taken they were said, 
while almost immaculate, to show the presence of a few minute 
punctate reddish-brown spots, irregularly disposed over the surface, 
and Mr. Henshaw writes me, under date of February 18, 1878, “ two 
of the four eggs still show the minute reddish-brown punctulations 
— they can scarcely be said to be spots — alluded to in my report, 
though these are fainter than when first collected. There are per- 
haps twenty of these isolated dots scattered over the surface ; with- 
out a critical notice the eggs would be passed by as immaculate. 
The ground-color of these eggs is now a dead bluish-white, and 
shows no trace of green.” * 
The set of Junco dorsalis was also taken by Mr. Henshaw in the 
mountains near Camp Apache, Arizona. These four eggs had the 
same pale greenish- white ground-color, and all exhibit, on careful 
examination, brownish-red spots, very minute, and scattered over 
the whole surface., — in one egg much more abundantly, — forming a 
confluent curve around the larger end. The eggs of the two sets 
are about equal in size, ranging from .84 to .77 of an inch in length, 
and averaging about .63 in breadth. 
“ The set of Junco caniceps ,” Mr. Henshaw writes me, “ were taken 
in Colorado by Mr. J. IT. Batty. There were originally five in the 
nest. The measurement of the remaining four are .82 x .61, .83 x 
.61, .78 x .60 .86 x .62 ; ground-color bluish-white (probably origi- 
nally with a tinge of greenish), profusely overlaid with small irregu- 
lar spots, and blotches of reddish-brown and lilac. The eggs of this 
set vary considerably in the amount of markings and the manner 
of distribution. In two these consist of minute punctulations that 
* Tn his report Mr. Henshaw describes it as greenish- white. 
