736 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
western Nebraska; winters from Montana and the Black Hills to western Kansas and 
Colorado; casually to Oklahoma and New Mexico. 
State Records. —Breeding and wintering north of Colorado, and wintering in 
that State the White-winged Junco undoubtedly occurs not rarely in winter through¬ 
out much of the northern part of New Mexico, where at this season very little study 
has been given to bird life. One specimen was taken, January 20, 1904, at Arroyo 
Seco, 8,QOO feet (Surber). [On November 19 and 20, 1926, it was seen quite com¬ 
monly with the pink-sided form on Red River, near Red River town in Taos County; 
and in the Moreno Valley, Colfax County, from 9,000-10,000 feet (Ligon). On 
November 24, 1922, one was banded at Santa Fe, and on November 29, another was 
seen near Little La Bajada Hill (Jensen).]—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —On the ground, usually near canyon bottoms; made of grass, lined with 
grass and hair. Eggs: Greenish white, lightly spotted with reddish brown and 
lavender. 
General Habits. —In Colorado, Professor Cooke found the White¬ 
winged the commonest winter junco, occurring from the plains to an 
altitude of 8,000 feet. 
SLATE-COLORED JUNCO: Junco hyemalis hyemalis (Linnaeus) 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 5.4-6.2 inches, wing 3-3.2, tail 2.5-2.8, bill 
.4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 5.2-6.1 inches, wing 2.8-3.1, tail 2.4-2.6, bill .4-.5. 
Bill small, conic, tail about as long as wing. Adult male: Head and body slate-color 
(darker on crown and paler on rump and sides) except for abruptly white lower 
breast, posterior underparts, and two outer tail feathers (six middle tail feathers slate- 
blackish edged with gray); iris dark reddish brown or claret-purple; bill pinkish with 
dusky tip (at least in winter). Adult female: Similar to male but the slate-color 
rather lighter and the second tail feather always (?) partly dusky. Young injuvenal 
'plinnage: Upperparts grayish brown, spotted or streaked with blackish; throat, 
chest, and sides dull buffy or buffy grayish, spotted or streaked with dusky; rest of 
underparts white; wings with brownish bar and edgings. 
Remarks. —As the juncos have no spring molt, the summer plumage with its more 
sharply contrasted color areas is the result of the wearing away of the brownish tips 
of the plumage (Chapman). Between the juvenal and adult plumages comes the 
immature, the male resembling the adult female but the female being browner, often 
with pinkish brown breast and sides. 
Range. —Breeds in IJudsonian and Canadian Zones from tree limit in north¬ 
western Alaska, northern Mackenzie, central Keewatin, and central Quebec south 
(in mountains to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York) to Michigan, 
Minnesota, central Alberta, and base of Alaska Peninsula; winters in southern British 
Columbia (occasionally) and Washington (casually), California (rarely), throughout 
the eastern United States and southern Ontario south to Gulf coast; casual in Oregon, 
California, Colorado, Arizona, and New Mexico. 
State Records. —The Slate-colored Junco breeds in northern North America 
from ocean to ocean, from Labrador to Alaska. The great majority of the Alaska, 
Yukon, and Mackenzie breeding birds go southeast in fall to winter in the United 
States east of the Rocky Mountains; but a small minority seems to pass to the south¬ 
ward and appear irregularly in the western United States from Colorado and New 
Mexico to California. Several came to Hondo Canyon the last of December, 1903; 
one was secured, January 4, 1904, at 8,000 feet; another was taken, March 12, 1904, 
at Cienequilla, 6,000 feet (Surber); two were noted in March, 1907, at Shiprock, (Gil- 
