Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various sparrows of the genus Junco of North and Central America, having predominantly gray plumage, a gray or black head, and white outer tail feathers.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A notable genus of the finch family, Fringillidæ; the North American snowbirds.
- noun [lowercase] Any bird of this genus; a snowbird.
- noun A thorny shrub or small tree, Kœberlinia spinosa, of southwestern Texas and northern Mexico, with numerous almost leafless branches, the branchlets ending in spines.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any bird of the genus Junco, which includes several species of North American finches; -- called also
snowbird , orblue snowbird .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any
bird of the genusJunco , which includes several species ofNorth American finch .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun small North American finch seen chiefly in winter
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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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.
The Log of the Sun A Chronicle of Nature's Year William Beebe 1919
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Afterwards I learned that it was the gray-headed junco, which is distinctly a western species, breeding among the mountains of Colorado.
Birds of the Rockies 1896
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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 Wit of a Duck and Other Papers John Burroughs 1879
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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The junco is the most common feeder bird in North America.
Durangoherald.com 2010
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"[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."
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"[Summer] deserved it after getting the word 'junco' correct."
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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.
Holy Grails 2009
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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.
Amends '82: Part Two 2010
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