THE SPARROW, 53 



that you know which is which. Both these birds are 

 much the color of dry leaves, grass, and the ground 

 on which they spend their lives. Can you tell why } 



The Chipping Sparrow's name refers to his song, 

 which sounds like the syllable chip repeated quickly, 

 — chip, chip, chip, etc. 



These two native sparrows have short, thick bills 

 like that of the English Sparrow, but I think they 

 make better use of them than he does. If you could 

 examine the bill very closely, you would see that, 

 though it is so short and thick, the tip is quite sharp 

 and delicate. With this tip the sparrow picks up seeds 

 so fine that you could hardly see them. Remember 

 that their eyes are not only sharp, but are not so far 

 from the ground as yours. These seeds are then 

 crushed in their strong bills, the husk rolled out 

 and the kernel eaten. All over the ground the little 

 sparrows hunt, and many a weed which would grow 

 up to plague the farmer is destroyed by them. Hun- 

 dreds of insects, too, — moths, beetles, and grubs, — 

 they find and eat. 



Let us record in our notebooks what we have 

 learned by comparing the three sparrows we have 

 met, — the English Sparrow, the Song Sparrow, and 

 the Chipping Sparrow. 



