742 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
lower branches of trees. They were sometimes seen mingled with the 
Shufeldt Juncos. At this season the two species were present in about 
equal numbers and over the upper slopes of the mountains together 
outnumbered all other birds combined. 
GRAY-HEADED JUNCO: Junco caniceps (Woodhouse) 
Plate 79 
Description. — Male: Length (skins) 5.6-6.2 inches, wing 3.2-3.4, tail 2.7-2.9, 
bill. 4-.5. Female: Length (skins) 5.5-5.9 inches, wing 2.9-3.3, tail 2.5-2.8, bill 
.4-.5. Adults: Slate-gray except for blackish lores, bright reddish brown back patch, 
white median belly, and parts of three outer pairs of tail feathers; bill flesh-color, legs 
yellowish brown, toes darker. 
Comparisons. —The Gray-headed is similar to the Red-backed Junco (see p. 
740), but has a shorter tail, smaller bill, and chest and sides much darker gray, the 
white of belly more clearly separated from the gray. 
Range. —Breeds in Hudsonian and Canadian Zones in southern Wyoming, 
Colorado, Utah, Nevada, and northern New Mexico; winters at lower elevations 
in San Diegan district, California (rarely), Arizona, Sonora, Chihuahua, and western 
Texas. 
State Records. —More records have been made of the occurrence of the Gray* 
headed Junco in New Mexico than of any other member of the genus, indicating its 
great abundance in the State, where it is the breeding form of the high mountains in 
the northern part [8,500 feet to above timberline (Ligon, 1919)]. On the Pecos near 
Willis, at 8,000 feet, July 15, 1903, a nest was found containing young just hatched, 
while on July 24, at 11,000 feet below Pecos Baldy, young out of the nest were seen, 
and as late as August 7, a nest with eggs. Breeding from 8,000 to 11,600 feet (at 
the foot of Pecos Baldy), they were most abundant at 11,000 feet, where they were 
the commonest birds. At 8,000 feet near Black Lake as late as September 7, a 
young-though full grown bird was being fed (Bailey). The next year in the region 
of Taos they were breeding from 8,200 feet in Hondo Canyon to timberline at 12,000 
feet, and noted feeding large young in August. [In June, 1922, they were fairly 
common and evidently breeding on Lake Peak from 11,500-12,400 feet (Jensen).] 
The southern end of the Rocky Mountains, known as the Sangrc de Cristo Range, 
seems to be the part of New Mexico where the Gray-headed Junco is best known 
to breed, but since it breeds in all of the high mountains of southern Colorado, it 
undoubtedly docs also in the San Juan, the Jemez, and the Chuska Mountains 
in New Mexico. In the Chuskas it was found during July, 1907 (Gilman), where 
young birds were seen, and it was also found breeding on Bear Ridge in the Zuni 
Mountains (Goldman). Early in September, 1904, it was found common from the 
foot of the San Juan Mountains at 7,500 feet to the top of the range at 10,000 feet, 
and during the latter part of August and the first week of September, 1906, was 
abundant in the upper part of the Jemez Mountains to 10,000 feet on Pelado Peak 
(Bailey). In both these latter cases fall migration may have already begun, but 
probably most of the birds had spent the summer in these mountains. 
In the fall migration it spreads over all of New Mexico west of the Rio Grande, 
and east of that river south to the Manzano Mountains, October 8-14, 1903, and to 
Corona, October 12,1902 (Gaut). It was noted near Kingston, 9,000 feet, November 
4, 1909 (Goldman), at 8,300 feet in the Mogollon Mountains, October 18, 1906 
(Bailey), and spent the winter in the Animas Mountains close to the United States— 
Mexican boundary (Anthony). During this latter season the species remains in the 
