No. 21. PENNSYLVANIA STATIC COLLIEGH., 261 
THE SLATE-COLORED JUNCO OR SNOW -bLIRD (Junco hyemalis.) 
This species is a summer resident in almost all of the higher 
mountain regions of Pennsylvania. In the counties of Melkean, 
Centre, Clinton, Lycoming and Cambria, I have found them to be 
very plentiful as summer residents in the mountainous districts. 
In September the Snow-birds usually retire from their summer 
resorts and are found inhabiting during the winter season the val 
leys and lowlands. Snow-birds sometimes collect together in very 
large flocks. During the latter part of October of last year I saw 
a flock of these birds in Penn’s Valley near Derby, Centre county, 
which ‘numbered at least three hundred individuals. The Snow- 
bird is about six and one-quarter inches in length and its extended 
wings measure from tip to tip about nine and three-quarter inches. 
‘Che male is much darker in color than the female. The species can 
readily be recognized by its whitish bill, dark colored head, neck, 
back and throat, its white underparts and the white lateral tail 
feathers, the latter being very conspicuous when the bird is flying. 
Snow-birds are found in all places, they often in winter time come 
about our yards and houses, yet they are most plentiful in bushes, 
along the banks of streams, old weed-grown fields, fence rows, and 
bushy tracts about the margins of woods. 
The nest made of dried grasses, roots, ete., and lined with various 
soft materials, is placed on the ground. The eggs according to Dr. 
Coues, number “four or six, white, sprinkled with reddish and darker 
brown dots, about .80 by .60. 
Notwithstanding the fact that there is a very marked difference 
in the appearance of the Junco and English Sparrow, as is well 
shown in the accompanying illustration, the writer has known of 
several instances when Snow-birds were destroyed when they came 
about houses under the belief that they were English Spar- 
rows. During the present year five Snow-birds have — been 
sent to our Agricultural Department for identification, and the per- 
sons sending them said they had been killed under the belief that 
they were English Sparrows. 
THE ENGLISH SPARROW (Passer domesticus.) 
This species is common and it is increasing in many portions of our 
State. It rears at least two and probably more broods annually. 
The nests made of dried grasses, pieces of string, ete., and lined with 
an abundance of feathers, are placed in bird boxes, holes in trees, on 
branches of trees, in vines and in various places about houses and 
other buildings. From four to seven dull-whitish eggs, measuring 
about .90 by .62 of an inch and thickly spotted and streaked with 
different shades of brown, are laid. The English Sparrow is 
