_Struthus caniceps_, WOODHOUSE, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phila. VI, Dec. 1852,
202 (New Mexico and Texas).—IB. Sitgreaves’s Report Zuñi &
Colorado, 1853, 83, pl. iii. _Junco caniceps_, BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 468, pl. lxxii, f. 1.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 201.
SP. CHAR. Bill yellowish; black at the tip. Above ashy (of the same
shade before and behind); the head and neck all round of this color,
which extends (paling a little) along the sides, leaving the middle of
the belly and crissum quite abruptly white. Lores conspicuously but
not very abruptly darker. Interscapular region abruptly reddish
chestnut-brown, which does not extend on the wings, and makes a
triangular patch. Two outer tail-feathers entirely white; third with a
long white terminal stripe on the inner web. Young streaked with
blackish above and below, except along middle of belly and behind.
Length, 6.00; wing, 3.23; tail, 3.04.
HAB. Rocky Mountains; from Black Hills to San Francisco Mountains,
Arizona. Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains (RIDGWAY).
This species is similar to the common _J. hyemalis_ in color, though
paler; the tint of the under parts and sides is not quite so dark, and
is less abruptly defined against the white. The conspicuous chestnut
patch on the back and the dusky lores will distinguish them. The edge
of the outer web of the third tail-feather is brown, not white. It
differs from _oregonus_ and _cinereus_ in having no chestnut on the
wings, especially the tertials, and from the former in the extension
of the ash of the neck along the sides and much lighter head.
Young birds are streaked above and below as in other species; they may
be distinguished from those of _cinereus_ by the rufous being confined
to the interscapular region, the same as in the adult.
The type skin of _Junco dorsalis_ of Dr. Henry (see foot-note to
synoptical table, p. 580) differs mainly in having the whole upper
mandible entirely black, as in _J. cinereus_; and, as in the latter,
the jugulum is pale ash, fading gradually into the white of the
abdomen, instead of deep ash abruptly defined. It is very probably, as
suggested by Mr. Ridgway, a hybrid with _J. cinereus_.
HABITS. This species was first discovered and described by Dr.
Woodhouse from specimens obtained by him among the San Francisco
Mountains in Arizona. When procured, it was feeding in company with
the _Junco oregonus_ and various species of _Parus_. Its habits
appeared to be very similar to those of the western Snowbird, as well
as to those of the common _J. hyemalis_.
Dr. Coues states that he found this bird a not very common winter
resident at Fort Whipple, where its times of arrival and departure, as
well as its general habits, were identical with those of _J.
oregonus_, with which it very freely associated. From this we may
naturally infer that in New Mexico and Arizona it appears only as a
winter visitant, and that in summer it goes elsewhere to breed. Its
summer resorts, as well as our knowledge of its breeding-habits, nest,
and eggs, remain to be determined, or are only imperfectly known. It
evidently retires to the highlands and to mountain regions to breed,
and probably has a much more extended habitat than that of which we
now have any knowledge. Upon this problem Mr. Ridgway’s observations
have already shed some valuable and suggestive light. He met with this
bird only among the pine woods of the Wahsatch Mountains, where,
however, it was a very common bird, and where it was also breeding.
Its manners and notes were scarcely different from those of _J.
oregonus_. It is, however, a shyer bird than the latter, and its song,
which is only a simple trill, is rather louder than that of either the
_hyemalis_ or the _oregonus_.
Dr. Coues writes me that both “the Gray-head and the Oregon Snowbirds
are common species about Fort Whipple in winter, arriving about the
middle of October, and remaining in numbers until early in April, when
they thin off, although some may usually be observed during the month,
and even a part of the next. _Oregonus_ far outnumbers _caniceps_. So
far as I could see, their habits are precisely the same as those of
the eastern Snowbird. During snow-storms they used to come familiarly
about our quarters, and I once captured several of both species,
enticing them into a tent in which some barley had been strewn, and
having the flap fixed so that it could be pulled down with a string in
a moment. They always associated together, and once, on firing into a
flock, I picked up a number of each kind, and one _Junco hyemalis_.
The latter can only be considered a straggler in this region, although
I secured three specimens one winter.”
This species was very rare in Colorado, according to Mr. Aiken, in the
winter of 1871-72, but became common in March, and a few remained up
to the 3d of May. No females of this species were observed by him.
Mr. J. A. Allen mentions first meeting with this species at an
elevation of seven thousand feet, and from that height it was common,
on the slopes of Mount Lincoln, to the extreme limit of the timber
line.