Color Key to North American Birds Part 83

Range.--"North America, north to the limit of trees, breeding south to the valleys of the Potomac and Ohio, southern Texas, southern Arizona, and California; Central and South America in winter; not recorded from Florida or West Indies." (A.O.U.)

=612.2. Mexican Cliff Swallow= (_Petrochelidon melanogastra_). Similar to No. 612, but smaller, W. 4.1, forehead deeper, usually chestnut, like throat, rump darker, more rusty.

Range.--Mexico, north to southern Arizona.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 613.]

=613. Barn Swallow= (_Hirundo erythrogastra_). L. [Male], 7.5; [Female], 6.5. Tail deeply forked. _Ad._ [Male]. Above glossy blue-black, forehead chestnut; throat and upper breast chestnut, belly paler. _Ad._ [Female]. Forehead, and underparts paler; tail less deeply forked. _Notes._ Song, a sweet, twittering, warbling song. (The notes of all our Swallows, while simple, are diagnostic but difficult of description.)

Range.--North America, north to Greenland and Alaska; breeds through most of range; winters south to southern Brazil.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 614.]

=614. Tree Swallow= (_Iridoprocne bicolor_). L. 6. _Ads._ Above steel-blue or steel-green; below white. _Yng._ Sooty gray above; white below.

Range.--North America; breeds locally from Lat. 41 on Atlantic coast and Lat. 38 on Pacific coast north to Labrador and Alaska; winters from South Carolina and southern California to the tropics.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 615.]

=615. Northern Violet-Green Swallow= (_Tachycineta thala.s.sina lepida_). L. 5.2; W. 4.5. _Ad._ [Male]. Above bronze-green; upper tail-coverts greener; an indistinct nape-ring; mark above eye, cheeks and underparts white; flank-patches white, often showing from above.

_Ad._ [Female]. Much duller, the head browner, _Yng._ Above brownish sooty with a greenish tinge; a whitish mark above and behind eye; below white.

Range.--Western United States, from eastern base of Rockies to Pacific; breeds from Mexico north to British Columbia; winters in Mexico and Central America.

=615a. St. Lucas Swallow= (_T. t. brachyptera_). Similar to No. 615, but wing shorter, [Male], 4.1, [Female], 4. (Brewster.)

Range.--Lower California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 458.]

=458. Black Ph?be= (_Sayornis nigricans_). L. 7.2. _Ads._ Breast and head black, back grayer; outer web of outer tail-feather white; belly black, under tail-coverts white _streaked with dusky_. _Notes._ A liquid _hip_, a rising _kee-ree_, and a falling _kee-wray_. (Bailey.)

Range.--Mexico, except Yucatan and Pacific coast from Colima northward, north into Texas, New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona.

=458a. Western Black Ph?be= (_S. n. semiatra_). Similar to No. 458, but under tail-coverts white without dusky streaks.

Range--Pacific coast of Mexico and United States, from Colima to Oregon, including most of Arizona. (Nelson.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 494.]

=494. Bobolink; Reed bird= (_Dolichonyx oryzivorus_). _Ad._ [Male], _summer_. Black; nape buffy, lower back, scapulars and upper tail-coverts white. _Ad._ [Female]. Above yellowish brown streaked with buff, and black. below yellowish white, sides streaked with black. _Winter plumage, Ads and Yng._ Like [Female] but yellower.

_Notes._ Song, an irrepressible bubbling outburst of "mad music" often given on the wing; calls, a blackbird-like _chuck_ and a metallic, far carrying, _c.h.i.n.k_.

Range.--Eastern North America, west to Utah; breeds from northern New Jersey, Illinois and Kansas, north to Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Montana; migrates south through Florida and West Indies, and winters south of Amazon.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 534 Winter.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 534 Summer.]

=534. Snowflake= (_Pa.s.serina nivalis_). L. 6.9. Hind toe-nail twice as long as shortest toe-nail. _Ad._ [Male], _summer_. Head, rump, secondaries, outer tail-feathers and below white; rest of plumage largely black. _Ad._ [Female], _summer_. Similar, but crown blackish, back edged with rusty or grayish. _Winter._ Above rusty and black, below white, breast tinged with rusty. _Notes._ Calls, a clearly piped whistle, and a peculiar _chirr_, often uttered when taking wing; song, short, simple, but rather sweet. (Minot.)

Range.--Breeds in northern parts of northern hemisphere; in winter south to northern states; irregularly to Georgia, southern Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, and eastern Oregon.

=534a. Pribilof Snowflake= (_P. n. townsendi_). Similar to No. 534, but larger, with relatively longer bill; [Male], W. 4.7; B. .5.

(Ridgw.).

Range.--Aleutian and Commander Islands, Pribilof Islands, Shumagin Islands. (Ridgw.).

=535. McKay Snowflake= (_Pa.s.serina hyperborea_). L. 7.5; W. 4.6; B .4.

Similar to No. 534, but with more white. _Ad._ [Male], _summer_. Back and scapulars entirely white. _Ad._ [Female], _summer_. Crown and hindneck white. _Yng._ Not certainly distinguishable from Yng. of No.

534. (Ridgw.)

Range.--Breeds on Hall and St. Mathews Islands, Bering Sea; in winter west coast of Alaska.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 605.]

=605. Lark Bunting= (_Calamospiza melanocorys_). L. 7.2. _Ad._ [Male].

Black, patch in wing white, outer tail-feathers tipped, tertials margined with white. _Ad._ [Female]. Above grayish brown streaked with blackish; below white conspicuously streaked with black; all but central tail-feathers with white tips; broad wing-bars buff. _Yng._ [Male]. Variously intermediate between Ad. [Male] and [Female]. (See page 251).

Range.--Western United States, chiefly east of Rockies; breeds from western Kansas and eastern Colorado, north to western Minnesota and a.s.siniboia; winters in Mexico; irregular west in migrations to Idaho and southern California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 484.]

=484. Canada Jay; Whiskey Jack= (_Perisoreus canadensis_). L. 11.5.

_Ads._ Black of hindhead reaching to back of eye; back, wings, and tail gray, belly lighter, throat white; forehead buffy white.

_Notes._ _ca-ca-ca_ and a number of peculiar sounds impossible to reproduce on paper. (Bendire.)

Range.--Eastern North America; Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, northern New England, northern New York, northern Michigan; northern Minnesota, north to Newfoundland and Hudson Bay region, west to the Rockies in Alberta.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 484a.]

=484a. Rocky Mountain Jay= (_P. c. capitalis_). Similar to No. 484, but head white, black of hindhead grayer and _not_ reaching to eye.

Range.--Rocky Mountain region from New Mexico and Arizona north to Montana and Idaho.

=484b. Alaskan Jay= (_P. c. fumifrons_). Very near to No. 484, but forehead averaging more yellowish.

Range.--Alaska; interior and west to Cook Inlet, north of southern coast region.

=484c. Labrador Jay= (_P. c. nigricapillus_). Similar to No. 484, but black of hindhead deeper and reaching forward as a well defined ring around the eye; below browner.

Range.--Labrador.