Hi, Birders: 

OK, I confess, I really didn't have any idea what the word 'plumbeous'  meant.  
Finding out became more of a winding adventure than I had anticipated. 

My newer American Heritage Dictionary did not have the word in it.  So, I 
brought out my Oxford English Dictionary (and the magnif ying glass), and there 
it was.  Explained it meant lead or lead coloured.  One of the references u sed 
was "1874 Coues . Birds of the North West,"   and the example of usage was 
"Feather. . . .plumbeous at base and brown at the tip.     So, googled Couse 
and found there was a flycatcher named for him - probably, amo ng other 
things.  Look up Coues' Flycatcher.  Not in any books EXCEPT a 1946 edition of 
Peterson.  And then looked at Ken Kauffman field guide, just in case, and there 
it was referring the reader to Greater Pewee.  That I know from Arizona - "Jose 
Maria" bird.  Some of the wing feathers plumbeous at base and brown at tip 

Summary:  Plumbeous means, basically gray (or grey).  Personally speaking,I, 
obviously I have plumbeous hair and my grandmother, at about the same age, 
could have been called Blue-headed.  At that time they rinsed their gray hair 
to make it whiter and prettier, but it was usually blue.  We could have been 
vireos. 

Mary Jane Black 

Denver 
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