Black snowbird, in most of the United States and in Ontario, where it
is a common resident, and White Bill, are names more often applied to
this species of Sparrow than the one of Junco, by which it is known to
ornithologists. It nests in the mountains of northern Pennsylvania,
New York, and New England, and is a resident throughout the year in
northeastern Ohio, and in Michigan. In all probability, the Snowbird
does not breed, even occasionally, anywhere within the limits of the
state of Illinois, though individuals may in very rare instances be
found several weeks after others have departed for the north, these
having probably received some injury which prevents their migration.
Prof. Forbes refers to such an instance, which came under his own
observation. He saw on a tree in the edge of a wood, in the southern
part of the state, an adult specimen of the Junco, and only one,
which, he says, astonished him.
Mr. William L. Kells states that in Ontario this Junco selects a
variety of places for nesting sites, such as the upturned roots of
trees, crevices in banks, under the sides of logs and stumps, a cavity
under broken sod, or in the shelter of grass or other vegetation. The
nest is made of dry grasses, warmly and smoothly lined with hair. The
bird generally begins to nest the first week of May, and nests with
eggs are found as late as August. A nest of the Junco was found on the
rafters of a barn in Connecticut.
Almost any time after the first of October, little excursion parties
of Juncos may be looked for, and the custom continues all winter long.
When you become acquainted with him, as you surely will, during his
visit, you will like him more and more for his cheerful habits. He
will come to your back door, and present his little food petition,
very merrily indeed. He is very friendly with the Chick-a-dee, and
they are often seen together about in the barn-yards, and he even
ventures within the barn when seeds are frozen to the ground.
"The Doctor," in _Citizen Bird_, tells this pretty story of his winter
pets:
"My flock of Juncos were determined to brave all weathers. First they
ate the seeds of all the weeds and tall grasses that reached above
the snow, then they cleaned the honeysuckles of their watery black
berries. When these were nearly gone, I began to feed them every day
with crumbs, and they soon grew very tame. At Christmas an ice storm
came, and after that the cold was bitter indeed. For two days I did
not see my birds; but on the third day, in the afternoon, when I was
feeding the hens in the barn-yard, a party of feeble, half-starved
Juncos, hardly able to fly, settled down around me and began to pick
at the chicken food. I knew at a glance that after a few hours more
exposure all the poor little birds would be dead. So I shut up the
hens and opened the door of the straw-barn very wide, scattered a
quantity of meal and cracked corn in a line on the floor, and crept
behind the door to watch. First one bird hopped in and tasted the
food; he found it very good and evidently called his brothers, for in
a minute they all went in and I closed the door upon them. And I slept
better that night, because I knew that my birds were comfortable. The
next afternoon they came back again. I kept them at night in this way
for several weeks, and one afternoon several Snowflakes came in with
them." (See page 150.)