Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various small North American birds of the genus Junco, having predominantly gray plumage, a gray or black head, and white outer tail feathers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A notable genus of the finch family, Fringillidæ; the North American snowbirds. Junco hiemalis is the black snowbird so abundant in winter in most parts of the United States, about 6½ inches long, of a blackish slate-color with white belly and white lateral tail-feathers and pink bill. Several other species or varieties occur in the western United States and Mexico, chiefly in mountainous regions, as the Oregon snow bird (J. oregonus), the gray-headed snowbird (J. caniceps), and the Mexican snowbird (J. alticola). The genus was instituted by Wagler in 1831, and later called by Audubon Niphæa. See cut under
snowbird . - n. [lowercase] Any bird of this genus; a snowbird.
- n. A thorny shrub or small tree, Kœberlinia spinosa, of southwestern Texas and northern Mexico, with numerous almost leafless branches, the branchlets ending in spines.
Wiktionary
- n. Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finch.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finches; -- called also
snowbird , orblue snowbird .
WordNet 3.0
- n. small North American finch seen chiefly in winter
Etymologies
- Spanish, reed, from Latin iuncus.
Examples
“We have called the junco a snowbird, but this name should really be confined to a black and white bunting which comes south only with a mid-winter's rush of snowflakes.”
“Afterwards I learned that it was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species, breeding among the mountains of Colorado.”
“My junco was a little nervous at first and showed her white quills, but she soon grew used to my presence, and would alight upon the chair which I kept for callers, and upon my hammock-ropes.”
“The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.”
“[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct.”
“I don't lose sleep over what sub-species of junco visits my feeder and all of my "birding" trips involve dogs and shotguns rather than binoculars and field guides.”
“I was surprised to see that even though none of the birds had their distinguishing colors, my mother knew most of the names¾a chickadee, a nut hatch; a junco, maybe; a mourning dove, no question; a cardinal or perhaps a blue jay.”
“The return of migratory birds like the white-throated sparrow and junco, the specific species varying by location.”
“Ponderosa pine forests contain the Steller's jay and dark-eyed junco.”
Nevada-Utah Mountains Semidesert - Coniferous Forest - Alpine Meadow Province (Bailey)
“Common winter residents are the pink-sided junco, Shufeldt's junco, gray-headed junco, red-backed junco, Rocky Mountain nuthatch, mountain bluebird, robin, and Steller's jay.”
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