II26 



Rural School Leaflet 



our lawns and gardens, he soon 1)ecomes accustomed to persons passing 

 and often becomes so tame that one can approach within two or 

 three feet without frightening him. In fact, it is not a diffictdt task to 

 tame chipping sparrows so that they will feed from one's hand, and they 

 very readily respond to a little kindness, and come regularly to be fed if 

 seeds or bread cnmibs are habitually scattered in the same place. 



The chipping sparrow arrives in central New York in the first week 



of April, and leaves at the end of October, spending the winter months 



-— , in scattered flocks in the Southern States. 



When the birds first arrive in the spring, 

 they are less friendly than later, and 

 spend their time in the tree tops. As 

 soon as the grass becomes green, how- 

 ever, and the dandelions are in seed, 

 they drop to the lawns where they find 

 a bountiful repast on the newly formed 

 seeds. 



The first nests of the chipping spar- 

 rows are commenced about the begin- 

 ning of May, and are often placed very 

 near the house, in the vines on the porch, 

 in the lilac bushes, or near the tip of a 

 low branch on the apple or the evergreen 

 tree. The nest is a beautiful little struc- 

 ture composed largely of horsehair, with 

 a few grasses or rootlets on the outside. 

 For this reason the chippy is sometimes 

 called " hair bird." The eggs, ntmibering 

 four or five, are a delicate blue or greenish 

 blue, with a circlet of brown or black 

 markings about the larger end. 

 The chipping sparrow is one of the birds very frequently imposed 

 on by the parasitic cowbird. 



-1^- 



*S/ 



Bruwn creeper 



BROWN CREEPER 



Size. — Smaller than an English sparrow. 



General color. — Above streaked cinnamon brown; below grayish white. 

 Distinctive features. — This is the only small brown bird that will be seen 

 climbing up the trunk of a tree using its tail as a prop. 



The brown creeper is a slender, brownish, streaked bird that seems to 

 spend its entire life searching for insects in the bark of trees. It has a 

 rather long tail of stiff feathers, which, like that of a woodpecker, helps 



