_Junco hyemalis hyemalis. Case 2, Fig. 43; Case 4, Fig. 41_
The plumage of the female is tinged with brownish,
but the prevailing tone is slate-gray, unlike that
of any of our other Sparrows. The white outer-tail
feathers are conspicuously flashed in flight. L.
6-1/4.
_Range._ Nests from northern New England and
northern New York to Canada and southward in the
mountains to Pennsylvania; winters in all the
Eastern States. The Carolina Junco (_J. h.
carolinensis_), a slightly larger race without a
brownish tinge, nests in the higher parts of the
Alleghanies from Maryland to northern Georgia,
descending to the adjacent lowlands in winter.
Washington, abundant W.V., Sept. 26-May 12.
Ossining, common W.V., Sept. 19-May 4. Cambridge,
rather common W.V., abundant T.V., Sept. 20-Nov.
25; Mch. 20-Apl. 20. N. Ohio, abundant W.V., Oct.
2-May 5. Glen Ellyn, W.V., abundant spring and
fall, Aug. 30-May 13, SE, Minn., common T.V., Mch.
4-; Sept. 20-Nov. 12.
Gray skies and a snow-covered earth are the Junco colors, and when he
flashes them along the hedgerows and wood borders we know that although
it is only late September, winter will soon be with us. From that time
until April the Junco is of our commonest birds. He visits our
food-shelf and roosts in our evergreens, becoming almost as domestic as
the Chipping Sparrow. The Junco's call-notes are a sharp _tsip_, a
contented _chew-chew-chew_, and a sharp kissing call. Its modest,
musical little trill we shall not hear until spring. The nest is built
on the ground, and the 4-5 white, speckled, or spotted, eggs are laid
late in May.