Junco (Junco Hyemalis) Finch Family
Called also: SNOWBIRD; SLATE-COLORED SNOWBIRD; [DARK-EYED JUNCO, AOU 1998]

Length -- 5.5 to 6.5 inches. About the size of the English sparrow. Male -- Upper parts slate-colored; darkest on head and neck, which are sometimes almost black and marked like a cowl. Gray on breast, like a vest. Underneath white. Several outer tall feathers white, conspicuous in flight. Female -- Lighter gray, inclining to brown. Range -- North America. Not common in warm latitudes. Breeds in the Catskills and northern New England. Migrations -- September. April. Winter resident.

"Leaden skies above; snow below," is Mr. Parkhurst's suggestive description of this rather timid little neighbor, that is only starved into familiarity. When the snow has buried seed and berries, a flock of juncos, mingling sociably with the sparrows and chickadees about the kitchen door, will pick up scraps of food with an intimacy quite touching in a bird naturally rather shy. Here we can readily distinguish these "little gray-robed monks and nuns," as Miss Florence Merriam calls them.