Professor F. H. Snow, in his List of Kansas Birds, published April, 1872, enumerates this species as a bird frequently taken in Kansas in the winter, and probably resident; and Mr. J. A. Allen (American Naturalist, May, 1872) states that Harris’s Finch was, next to the Cardinal, the most abundant species of the family of Sparrows and Finches in the vicinity of Leavenworth, as it was also one of the largest and handsomest. He found it almost exclusively frequenting the damper parts of the woods, associating with the White-throated Sparrow, much resembling it both in habits and in song. Nothing has so far been published respecting the nest and eggs.
Genus JUNCO, Wagler.
Junco, Wagler, Isis, 1831. (Type, Fringilla cinerea, Sw.)
Niphæa, Audubon, Syn. 1839. (Type, Emberiza hyemalis, Gm.)
Junco oregonus.
32411 ♂
Gen. Char. Bill small, conical; culmen curved at the tip; the lower jaw quite as high as the upper. Tarsus longer than the middle toe; outer toe longer than the inner, barely reaching to the base of the middle claw; hind toe reaching as far as the middle of the latter; extended toes reaching about to the middle of the tail. Wings rather short; reaching over the basal fourth of the exposed surface of the tail; primaries, however, considerably longer than the secondaries and tertials, which are nearly equal. The second quill longest, the third to fifth successively but little shorter; first longer than sixth, much exceeding secondaries. Tail moderate, a little shorter than the wings; slightly
emarginate and rounded. Feathers rather narrow; oval at the end. No streaks on the head or body; color above uniform on the head, back, or rump, separately or on all together. Belly white; outer tail-feathers white. Young birds streaked above and below.
The essential characters of this genus are the middle toe rather shorter than the short tarsus; the lateral toes slightly unequal, the outer reaching the base of the middle claw; the tail a little shorter than the wings, slightly emarginate. In Junco cinereus the claws are longer; the lower mandible a little lower than the upper.
Species and Varieties.