_Fringilla hyemalis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, (10th ed.,) 1758, 183 (not
of GMELIN or LATHAM).—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 72; V, 505, pl.
xiii.—MAX. Cab. Jour. VI, 1858, 277. _Fringilla (Spiza) hyemalis_,
BON. Syn. 1828, 109. _Emberiza hyemalis_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I,
1766, 308. _Struthus hyemalis_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
475. _Niphæa hyemalis_, AUD. Synopsis, 1839, 106.—IB. Birds Am.
III, 1841, 88, pl. clxvii. _Junco hyemalis_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl.
Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 468.—COUES, P. A. N. S.
1861, 224.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284.—SAMUELS,
314. _Fringilla hudsonia_, FORSTER, Philos. Trans. LXII, 1772,
428.—GMELIN, I, 1788, 926.—WILSON’S Index, VI, 1812, p. xiii.
_Fringilla nivalis_, WILSON, II, 1810, 129, pl. xvi, f. 6.
SP. CHAR. Everywhere of a grayish or dark ashy-black, deepest
anteriorly; the middle of the breast behind and of the belly, the
under tail-coverts, and first and second external tail-feathers,
white; the third tail-feather white, margined with black. Length,
6.25; wing, about 3. Female paler. In winter washed with brownish.
Young streaked above and below.
HAB. Eastern United States to the Missouri, and as far west as Black
Hills. Stragglers at Fort Whipple, Arizona, and mountains of Colorado.
[Illustration: _Junco oregonus._]
The wing is rounded; the second quill longest; the third, fourth, and
fifth, successively, a little shorter; the first longer than the
sixth. Tail slightly rounded, and a little emarginate. In the full
spring dress there is no trace of any second color on the back, except
an exceedingly faint and scarcely appreciable wash of dull brownish
over the whole upper parts. The markings of the third tail-feather
vary somewhat in specimens. Sometimes the whole tip is margined with
brown; sometimes the white extends to the end; sometimes both webs are
margined with brown; sometimes the outer is white entirely; sometimes
the brownish wash on the back is more distinct.
Some specimens (No. 52,702 and 52,701, males) from Sun River, Dakota,
appear to be hybrids with _oregonus_. They have the general appearance
of _hyemalis_, the back being nearly uniform with the head (with a
wash of sepia-brown, however), and the head and neck of the same dark
plumbeous; the sides, however, are pinkish, and the plumbeous on the
jugulum has its posterior outline convex, as in _oregonus_. If, as
there is every reason to believe, these specimens are really hybrids,
then we have the two extreme forms of the genus connected by specimens
of such a condition; thus, _hyemalis_ with _oregonus_, _oregonus_ with
_caniceps_ (= _annectens_, Baird), and _caniceps_ with _cinereus_
(= _dorsalis_, Henry). It may perhaps be considered a serious question
whether all (including _alticola_) are not, in reality, geographical
races of one species. However, as there is no possibility of ever
proving this, it may be best to consider them as representative
species, and these specimens of intermediate characters as hybrids.
HABITS. The common familiar Snowbird of the Eastern States is found
throughout all North America, east of the Black Hills, from Texas to
the Arctic regions. Wherever found, it is at certain seasons a very
abundant and an equally familiar bird.
It nests as far south, in mountainous regions, as Virginia, and thence
to New York and the northern parts of the New England States, breeding
only in the highlands, but descending more and more into the plains as
we proceed north. As it is a very hardy bird, its migrations are
irregular and uncertain. In some seasons I have observed but few at
irregular intervals; and in others, in which the spring was cold and
backward, I have met with them in every month except July and August.
Mr. Kennicott found but few birds of this species breeding as far
south as Fort Resolution or Slave Lake, and was unable to find any of
their nests, though he met with a few birds that were evidently
breeding there. He found it afterwards nesting in the greatest
abundance about latitude 65°. They were very numerous on the Yukon,
and Mr. MacFarlane found them breeding plentifully on the Anderson
River, at the edge of the barren-ground region.
The nests found by Mr. Kennicott were all on the ground, more or less
concealed in tufts of grass, dry leaves, or projecting roots. Some
were in thick woods, others in more open regions, and were lined with
moose-hair.
Mr. Ross states that this species frequents all the Mackenzie River
region in summer, arriving about the 20th of April, and leaving about
the 10th of October. Besides its call-note, or chirp, it has a very
pretty song.
Mr. Dall also remarks that they were quite common at Nulato in the
spring, not arriving there, however, until about the first of June.
According to Mr. Dresser, it is found occasionally about San Antonio
in winter, and Dr. Woodhouse says that it is also common in the Indian
Territory in fall and winter. According to Mr. Audubon, it makes its
appearance in Louisiana in November, and remains there until early
spring. It is also abundant in South Carolina, arriving there in
October and leaving in April.
This species was observed by Mr. Aiken in Colorado Territory for about
three weeks following March 20, after which they were seen no more.
It breeds more or less abundantly in the northern and eastern portions
of Maine. About Calais and in all the islands of the Bay of Fundy, and
throughout New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, I found this by far the most
common and familiar species, especially at Pictou, where it abounded
in the gardens, in repeated instances coming within the outbuildings
to build its nests. In a woodshed connected with the dwelling of Mr.
Dawson, my attention was called to the nests of several of these
birds, built within reach of the hand, and in places where the family
were passing and repassing throughout the day. In Pictou they were
generally called the Bluebird by the common people. On my ride from
Halifax to Pictou, I also found these birds breeding by the roadside,
often under the shelter of a projecting bank, in the manner of the
_Passerculus savanna_. I afterward found them nesting in similar
situations among the White Mountains, the roadsides seeming to be a
favorite situation. In habits and notes, at Pictou, they reminded me
of the common _Spizella socialis_, but were, if anything, more
fearless and confiding, coming into the room where the family were at
their meals, and only flying away when they had secured a crumb of
sufficient size.
In Western Massachusetts they breed in all parts of the range of Green
Mountains, from Blandford to North Adams. They appear about
Springfield in October and November, and are for a while abundant, and
are then gone until March, when they return in full song, and remain
numerous into April, and less common until into May. In the eastern
part of the State they are found from October to late in May, with
some irregularity and in varying numbers. Mr. Audubon did not meet
with any on the coast of Labrador, and Dr. Coues did not find them so
abundant as he expected, and did not observe any until the latter part
of July, at which time the young were already hatched, and they were
associated in small companies. They kept entirely in the thick woods,
and seemed rather timid.
Their food is small berries, seeds of grasses and small plants,
insects, and larvæ. They seek the latter on the ground, and in the
winter are said to frequent the poultry-yards, and avail themselves of
the services of the fowls in turning up the earth. On the ground they
hop about in a peculiar manner, apparently without moving their feet.
At night and during storms they shelter themselves in the thick
branches of evergreens, and also in stacks of hay and piles of
brushwood.
During the winter the Snowbird appears to be rather more numerous in
the Middle and Southern States than in New England. In the former they
appear late in October, at first on the borders of woods, searching
for food among the fallen and decaying leaves. Later in the season, as
the weather becomes colder, and the snow deprives them of this means
of feeding, they resort to the roadsides and feed on the seeds of the
taller weeds, and to the farm-houses and farm-yards, and even enter
within the limits of large cities, where they become very tame and
familiar. They are much exposed to attacks from several kinds of
Hawks, and the apparent timidity they evince at certain times and
places is due to their apprehensions of this danger. The sudden rustle
of the wings of a harmless fowl will cause the whole flock to take at
once to flight, returning as soon as their alarm is found to be
needless, but repeated again and again when the same dreaded sounds
are heard.
Neither Wilson, Nuttall, nor Audubon appear to have ever met with the
nests or eggs of this bird, though the first met with them breeding
both among the Alleghanies, in Virginia, and the highlands of
Pennsylvania and New York. In Otsego County, in the latter State, Mr.
Edward Appleton was the first to discover and identify their nest and
eggs, as cited by Mr. Audubon in the third volume of his Birds of
America. They were found in considerable numbers in the town of
Otsego. Their nests were on the ground in sheltered positions, some of
them with covered entrances. Their complement of eggs was four. One of
their nests was sent me, and was characteristic of all I have since
seen, having an external diameter of four and a half inches and a
depth of two. The cavity was deep and capacious for the bird. The base
and periphery of the nest were made of slender strips of bark, coarse
straws, fine roots, and horsehair, lined with fine mosses and the fur
of smaller animals. The eggs were of a rounded-oval shape; their
ground-color is a creamy yellowish-white, marked with spots and
blotches of a reddish-brown confluent around the larger portion of the
egg, but rarely covering either end. They measure .75 by .60 of an
inch, not varying in size from those of _J. oregonus_.
Junco hyemalis, var. aikeni, RIDGWAY.