308 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



coverts, perching on a tree or cat-tail flirting his tail and erecting the crown 

 feathers so that he appears to have a well-developed crest. Even when 

 associated with the Chipping sparrow or the Field sparrow, which he 

 resembles in general coloration, he should easily be distinguished by greater 

 size and the single spot in the center of his breast. 



Spizella passerina passerina (Bechstein) 

 Chipping Sparrow 



Plate 83 



Fringilla passerina Bechstein. In Latham. Allg. Ueb. Vogel. 1798. 3:544. 



pi. 120, fig. 1 

 Emberiza socialis DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 159, fig. 160 

 Spizella passerina passerina A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 263. 



No. 560 



passerina, Lat., of a sparrow, or like a sparrow 



Description. Small, slender, tail slightly forked; bill rather slender 

 for a sparrow. Crown deep rufous chestnut or copper colored, blackening 

 near the bill; superciliary line whitish; narrow black line through the eye; 

 bill black; sides of the head and neck mostly gray; back and scapulars 

 striped with rusty brown, blackish and grayish brown; rump and tail coverts 

 ashy gray; primaries and tail feathers dusky grayish; entire under parts 

 grayish white. Young: Lack the rufous crown and streaked with dusky 

 on the breast. 



Length 5.36 inches; extent 8.75; wing 2.75; tail 2.3; bill .36; tarsus .64. 



Distribution. This species is a common summer resident of New York 

 State, except the densely forested regions, usually arriving from the 27th of 

 March to the 12th of April, but has occasionally been noted as early as the 

 17th of February in the southern counties. In the fall it disappears 

 between the 15th of October and the 10th of November, sometimes as late 

 as the 30th. The breeding range of this subspecies extends from central 

 Saskatchewan, southwestern Keewatin, central Quebec and Cape Breton to 

 central Texas, Mississippi and central Georgia; winters in the southern 

 states. 



Haunts and habits. None of our native sparrows except the Song 

 sparrow is more familiar than the Chippy, which is found everywhere in 



