THE TREE SPARROW OR WINTER CHIPPY 



Hold high their heads, and mock 

 Their tyrant lord, — from Northland woods 



There come a merry flock 

 Of feathered songsters, soft and brown 



With a dark spot on each breast. 

 They sway on stalk of golden-rod 



Above a snowdrift's crest. 

 Their voices ring like tinkling bells 



Beneath the wintry sky, 

 Till April, when with joyous songs 



Back to the North they fly. 



SUCH are the rollicking little Tree Sparrows, that whirl 

 into our vision like an eddy of brown leaves. To 

 the untrained observer, they are "just sparrows," but to 

 the "seeing eye" they are altogether more dainty and re- 

 fined than English sparrows, and have different markings. 

 Their little brown caps, the gray line over their bright 

 eyes, their brown backs, white wing-bars, pale gray breasts 

 and forked tails resemble those of their little cousins, the 

 chipping sparrows. But the soft grayish-black spot on 

 each tree sparrow's breast is a difference. Careful com- 

 parison with the "Chippy" will show no straight black line 

 extending from the eye, but a brown curve behind the eye 

 that joins the one extending from the bill. 



The voices of winter chippies are infinitely sweeter than 

 those of the door yard chippies and their English relatives. 

 Their note is sweet and joyous. Mr. Forbush writes of 

 their song as follows: "Tree Sparrows are among the 

 few birds that can 'look our winters in the face and sing.' 

 They are occasionally heard singing in November and De- 

 cember and late in February, when deep snow covers the 

 ground. The song is among the sweetest of sparrow notes, 

 but not very strong. It slightly resembles that of the Fox 



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