Borrowed fromSpanishjunco(“reed, rush”), fromLatiniuncus(“reed, rush”).[1]Doublet ofjuncus and possiblyjunk.Thisetymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term. Semantic shift?
1862 July, Daniel Wilson, “Science in Rupert’s Land”, inThe Canadian Journal of Industry, Science, and Art, volume VII, number XL (New Series), Toronto, Ont.:[…]Canadian Institute[…],→OCLC,page343:
Among many others secured by him, I noticed the eggs and parent birds of the American Widgeon, the Black duck, Canvass-back duck, Spirit duck (Bucephala albeola); small Black-head duck (Fulix affinis); the Wax-wing, (Ampelis garrulus); the Kentucky warbler, the Trumpeter swan, the Duck hawk (Falco anatum), and two species ofjuncoes.
1899 July 1, Henry B. Kaeding, “The Genus Junco in California”, inBulletin of the Cooper Ornithological Club: A Bi-monthly Exponent of Californian Ornithology, volume I, number 5, Santa Clara, Calif.:Cooper Ornithological Club, published September–October 1899,→OCLC,page81, column 1:
Thejuncos of this region were separated by Mr. L. M. Loomis and carry very striking characters, the most conspicuous being the bright rufous or reddish dorsal patch which is much more pronounced than in eitheroregonus orthurberi. Thesejuncos are very common in the vicinity of Monterey during summer and during the breeding season are the only ones found there, but as foon as the young are fledged the birds wander.
1963,Herbert Friedmann, “Brown-headed Cowbird[Hosts of the Brown-headed Cowbird]”, inHost Relations of the Parasitic Cowbirds, Washington, D.C.: United States National Museum,Smithsonian Institution,→OCLC,page161:
The slate-colouredjunco is an infrequently reported host; probably it is molested very slightly by the brown-headed cowbird. [...] Mills (1957, pp. 25–27) noted that E. C. Allen found a fledgling cowbird attended and fed byjuncos near Halifax, Nova Scotia, on July 17, 1933.
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, Oxford:Oxford University Press,1901;“junco,n.”, inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.