_Junco_, WAGLER, Isis, 1831. (Type, _Fringilla cinerea_, SW.)
_Niphæa_, AUDUBON, Syn. 1839. (Type, _Emberiza hyemalis_, GM.)
[Line drawing: _Junco oregonus._
32411 ♂]
GEN. CHAR. Bill small, conical; culmen curved at the tip; the lower
jaw quite as high as the upper. Tarsus longer than the middle toe;
outer toe longer than the inner, barely reaching to the base of the
middle claw; hind toe reaching as far as the middle of the latter;
extended toes reaching about to the middle of the tail. Wings rather
short; reaching over the basal fourth of the exposed surface of the
tail; primaries, however, considerably longer than the secondaries and
tertials, which are nearly equal. The second quill longest, the third
to fifth successively but little shorter; first longer than sixth,
much exceeding secondaries. Tail moderate, a little shorter than the
wings; slightly emarginate and rounded. Feathers rather narrow; oval
at the end. No streaks on the head or body; color above uniform on the
head, back, or rump, separately or on all together. Belly white; outer
tail-feathers white. Young birds streaked above and below.
The essential characters of this genus are the middle toe rather
shorter than the short tarsus; the lateral toes slightly unequal, the
outer reaching the base of the middle claw; the tail a little shorter
than the wings, slightly emarginate. In _Junco cinereus_ the claws are
longer; the lower mandible a little lower than the upper.
Species and Varieties.
COMMON CHARACTERS. Prevailing color plumbeous; abdomen, crissum,
and lateral tail-feathers white.
A. Bill entirely light flesh-colored, dusky only at extreme
point. Color of jugulum (deep ash or plumbeous-black) abruptly
defined against the pure white of the abdomen.
_a._ Posterior outline of the dark color of the jugulum
convex; sides pinkish.
1. J. oregonus. Back and wings more or less tinged with
dark rusty, in sharp contrast with the black (♂) or ash (♀)
of the head and neck. _Hab._ Pacific Province of North
America, from Sitka southward; east across the Middle
Province of United States, to the Rocky Mountains (where
mixed with _J. caniceps_[116]) occasionally to the Plains
(where mixed with _J. hyemalis_[117]).
_b._ Posterior outline of the dark color of the jugulum
concave; sides ashy.