Evening star., 1946-11-05
This and That
By Charles Z. TracetDel.
"s STREET.

Dear Sir:
There are some little birds in our
yard. My husband says they are snow
birds, and say they are juncos.
who is right?
please settle this argument for us.
Sincerely, M. j. s.
x* X
Both of you are right.
Snowbird Is a common name for this
fellow, but junco in recently years seems
to have the preference.
Until the gay 90s, however, snowbird
was the universal favorite.
BY any name, the slate-colored junco
Ii the same fne little bird.
He comes to us at this time of year
from the North. This, in other words,
Is South to him.
He usually arrives before snow. but
not always. He comes with several OF
his friends and relations, often as many
as q dozen in flock.
In this he resembles the wild canary,
or goldfinch, which also goes by two
popular names.
The junco has many names, OF course,
in everyday language. They include
black snowbird, white bill, black chipping
bird, blue snowbird, Eastern junco, etc.
Junco is preferable, we believe, since
q bird OF the far North is also called
"snowbird" as well as snowflake.
Our -colored juuco is 6 inches
long, with the upper parts gray and
the underparts white The bill is small,
and fesh-colored except on the tip.
where 1t Is dark.
This bird shows some white when 1t
fiies, in this resembling our mocking-
bird.
The snowbird will come to a feeding
station when snow and ice are on the
ground, but most of the time 1t prefers
to work for its food.
It likes weed seeds and the eggs Of
insects, and by eating them at a time
when there is no demand for such food
for bird young, the junco does very good
work for mankind.
ALI during the year it likes insects, ana
practically all of these are forms in
imical to man. Caterpillars are favorites.
More than half of their diet Is weed
seeds.
In fact, the diet of this species, from
the viewpoint of man, Is practically
perfect.
That is the reason why no one par
ticularly should try to lure one to a
feeding station. Let him alone and he
will do himself and us good.
The white breast and stomach of the
junco reminds some observers of the
famous snuff-box portrait of Napoleon.
All in all, he is tidy bird, one to well
come at any time he comes.
There is superstition that he appears
only just before snowfall. This often
happens, but then again it does not
The junco comes to our yard when
he wishes, and only when he wishes. He
stays as long as he wants to and goes
away when he gets ready? This is how
independent he is.
The nest is placed on the ground. 1t
is made of dried grasses, lined with
feathers, fur or hair, anything the bird
can find.
Four or five eggs are laid They are
all-white or greenish-white, spotted
with brown.
The junco is one of our most popular
sparrows. He chums around with
chickadees a great deal, and has no
hostility toward the English sparrow
In the West, over the Rockies and
along the Pacific Coast. there are 20
varieties of this one bird, some only
slightly different in coloration. Some OF
them have more brown in them than
our juncos.
what is known as the Oregon junco
has black head and breast, with ma
hogany brown Sides Then there Is q
eray-headed junco of Utah, and the
red.backed one of Arizona.
We may feel certain that we have
about the best junco Of them all, and
that is why we should put out crumbs
for him when there is snow on the
ground.