[a. Sp. junco, ad. L. junc-us rush; cf. Sp. junco ave ‘a bird in the Indies with a very long and narrow taile’ (Minsheu, 1599).] † a. A name formerly given to the Reed-sparrow or Reed-bunting (Emberiza schœniclus). Obs. b. Name of a North American genus of Finches, the Snow-birds; a bird of this genus.
1706. Phillips, Junco, the Reed-Sparrow; a Bird.
1898. B. Torrey, in Atlantic Monthly, LXXXII. 492/2. Birds which had been isolated … might be presumed to have acquired … some slight but real idiosyncrasy of voice and language. But if this is true of the Carolina junco, I failed to satisfy myself of the fact. Ibid., 493/1. This is not to assert that the Alleghanian junco has not developed a voice in some measure its own.
