_Fringilla oregona_, TOWNSEND, J. A. N. Sc. VII, 1837, 188.—IB.
Narrative, 1839, 345.—AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 68, pl. cccxcviii.
_Struthus oregonus_, BON. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. 1850,
475.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. & Or. Route; Rep. P. R. R. VI, iv, 1857,
88. _Niphœa oregona_, AUD. Syn. 1839, 107.—IB. Birds Am. III,
1841, 91, pl. clxviii.—CAB. Mus. Hein. 1851, 134. _Junco
oregonus_, SCLATER, Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1857, 7.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 466.—LORD, Pr. R. A. Inst. IV, 120 (British
Columbia).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 202.—COUES, Pr. Phil. Ac. 1866, 85
(Arizona).—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Ch. Ac. I, 1869, 284.—COOPER,
Orn. Cal. 1, 199. _Fringilla hudsonia_, LICHT. Beit. Faun. Cal. in
Abh. Akad. Wiss. Berlin, for 1838, 1839, 424 (not _F. hudsonia_,
FORSTER). “_Fringilla atrata_, BRANDT, Icon. Rosso-As. tab. ii, f.
8” (CAB.).
SP. CHAR. Head and neck all round sooty-black; this color extending to
the upper part of the breast, but not along the sides under the wings,
and with convex outline behind. Interscapular region of the back and
exposed surface of the wing-coverts and secondaries dark rufous-brown,
forming a square patch. A lighter, more pinkish tint of the same on
the sides of breast and belly. Rest of under parts clear white. Rump
brownish-ash. Upper tail-coverts dusky. Outer two tail-feathers white;
the third with only an obscure streak of white. Bill flesh-color,
dusky at tip. Legs flesh-color. Length about 6.50 inches; wing, 3.00.
HAB. Pacific coast of the United States to the eastern side of the
Rocky Mountains, and north to Alaska. Stragglers as far east as Fort
Leavenworth in winter and Great Bend of Missouri.
Sitka and Oregon specimens have the back of a darker rufous than those
from California and the Middle Province, in which this portion of the
body, as well as the sides, is paler, and in more abrupt contrast with
the head.
Immature and the majority of winter specimens do not have the black of
the head and neck so well defined, but edged above more or less with
the color of the back, below with light ashy.
The Oregon Snowbird in full plumage is readily distinguishable from
the eastern species by the purer white of the belly; the more sharply
defined outline of the black of the head passes directly across the
upper part of the breast, and is even convex in its posterior outline,
without extending down the side of the breast, with its posterior
outline strongly concave, as in _hyemalis_. The absence of black or
ashy-brown under the wings, with the rufous tinge, are highly
characteristic of _oregonus_. The head and neck are considerably
blacker; the rufous of the back and wings does not exist in the other.
The wings and quills are more pointed; the second quill usually
longest, instead of the third, etc. The dusky of the throat reaches in
_J. oregonus_ only to the upper part of the breast; to its middle
region in _hyemalis_.
Sometimes, in adult males, the middle and greater wing-coverts are
faintly tipped with white, indicating two inconspicuous bands.
In a large series of _Juncos_ collected at Fort Whipple, Arizona, by
Dr. Coues, are several specimens so decidedly intermediate between _J.
oregonus_ and _J. caniceps_ as to suggest the probability of their
being hybrids; others, from Fort Burgwyn and Fort Bridger, are exactly
like them. With the ashy head and jugulum, and black lores, as well as
bright rufous back, of the latter, the sides are pinkish as in the
former; while, as in this too, the posterior outline of the ash on
jugulum is convex, not concave, and the rufous of the back has a
tendency to tinge the wings, instead of being confined to the
interscapulars. (See foot-note to synoptical table, p. 579.)
HABITS. Dr. Suckley found this bird extremely abundant in Oregon and
Washington Territory, where it holds about the same position that the
_hyemalis_ does in the Eastern States. Dr. Cooper states it to be a
very common bird in Washington Territory, especially in the winter,
when it comes about the houses and farms with precisely the same
habits as the common Atlantic species. In the summer it is seen about
Puget Sound, in which neighborhood it breeds. He met with young
fledglings as early as May 24. At that season they were not
gregarious, and were found principally about the edges of woods.
Mr. Ridgway also regards the western Snowbird as, in all appreciable
respects, an exact counterpart of the eastern _hyemalis_. In summer he
found it inhabiting the pine woods of the mountains, but in winter
descending to the lowlands, and entering the towns and gardens in the
same manner with the eastern species.
Dr. Cooper states this species to be numerous in winter in nearly
every part of California. In the summer it resides among the mountains
down to the 32d parallel. On the coast he has not determined its
residence farther south than Monterey. The coolness of that locality,
and its extensive forests of pines extending to the coast, favor the
residence of such birds during the summer. At San Diego he observed
them until the first of April, when they retired to the neighboring
mountains. A few also were found in the Colorado Valley in the winter.
On the Coast Mountains south of Santa Clara he found them breeding in
large numbers in May, 1864. One nest contained young, just ready to
fly, as early as May 13. This was built in a cavity among the roots of
a large tree on a steep bank. It was made of leaves, grasses, and fine
root-fibres. On the outside it was covered with an abundant coating of
green moss, raised above the surface of the ground. The old birds
betrayed the presence of the nest by their extreme anxiety. On the
20th he found another nest on the very summit of the mountains,
supposed to be a second laying, as it contained but three eggs. It was
slightly sunk in the ground under a fern, and formed like the other,
but with less moss around its edge. It was lined with cows’ and
horses’ hair. The eggs were bluish-white, with blackish-brown spots of
various sizes thickly sprinkled around the larger end, and measuring
.74 by .60 of an inch.
The only song Dr. Cooper noticed, of this species, was a faint trill
much like that of the _Spizella socialis_, delivered from the top of
some low tree in March and April. At other times they have only a
sharp call-note, by which they are distinguishable from other
Sparrows. While some migrate far to the south in winter, others remain
as far north as the Columbia River, frequenting, in large numbers, the
vicinity of barns and houses, especially when the snow is on the
ground. They raise two broods in a season.
Dr. Coues found this species a very common winter resident in Arizona,
arriving at Fort Whipple about October 10, soon becoming very
abundant, and continuing so until the second week in April. Stragglers
were seen until May 10.
Dr. Woodhouse also observed numbers of the western Snowbird on the San
Francisco Mountains, in the month of October, where they were very
abundant. Many specimens were obtained in Sitka by Mr. Bischoff. None
have so far been recorded from the Aleutian Islands.
Dr. Kennerly frequently saw these birds near the Pueblo of Zuñi in New
Mexico; in the months of October and November they were very abundant
among the cedars to the westward of that settlement as far as the
Little Colorado. Dr. Heermann also met with them near Fort Yuma in
December, having previously noticed them during the fall, migrating in
large flocks.
Mr. Aiken frequently found this species throughout the winter in
Colorado. It was very common during March and the first of April. By
May only a few straggling females were seen, and then they all
disappeared.
The nests of this species have a general resemblance in structure to
those of the common _hyemalis_. They are well constructed and
remarkably symmetrical, made externally of mosses and other coarse
materials, within which is very nicely woven an inner nest of fine,
bent stems of grasses, lined with hair. The eggs, four or five in
number, resemble those of the _hyemalis_, but are lighter. They have a
ground-color of greenish-white, marked about the larger end with fine
dots of reddish-brown. Their measurement is .75 by .60 of an inch.
Junco caniceps, BAIRD.