212 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



a long, dry-toned, unmusical trill, which, from their perch on 

 fence or tree, they often repeat during the breeding-season and 

 summer. These trills have several variations, which are some- 

 times combined, one with a rising inflection being followed by 

 a more open one with a reverse inflection. It is said that in- 

 dividuals have actual!}' been known to sing, and very sweetly, 

 but such cases are wholly exceptional, " et lusus naturae." 



The Chi[7iDing Sparrows are " so tame as to be fed with 

 crumbs from the table," so fearless of man as to be much fa- 

 vored by him, and so common that they may eventually become 

 as intimate in our households as certain birds of Europe are in 

 those of their country. ^ 



(B) MONTicoLA. Tree Sparrow.^^ ^'■Arctic Chipiyer." 



(In Massachusetts, a winter-resident, generally quite com- 

 mon and regular in appearance.) 



(a). About six inches long. (" Bill black above, yellow 

 below.") Crown, chestnut, in winter slightly marked. Super- 

 ciliary line, dull white; eye-stripe (and maxillary line), dark. 

 Interscapulars, bright ba}-, pale-edged, and black-streaked. 

 Rump unmarked; tail, dusky ("black") with white edgings. 

 Under parts, white. Sides of head, lower throat, and upper 

 breast, 2i&\\y-tinted ; the latter with a dark central blotch. Sides, 

 however, and rarely the whole under pants, brown-washed or 

 butfy. Two conspicuous wing-bars, white ; part of the wing 

 black. Wings otherwise as in socialis, " in keeping with" the 

 back. 



{b). The Tree Sparrows breed in Arctic countries only. 

 Their eggs are strikingly like those of the Swamp Sparrow 

 and allied species (XIII, C), exhibiting some variation. A 

 specimen before me measures about '77 X *5o of an inch, and 

 is of a faint and vague blue or green, finely marked with brown 

 all over, , clouded with umber-brown about the crown, and 

 splashed in one or two places with a pale and peculiar tint of 

 the same color. Dr. Brewer says that the eggs 



88 Not to be confused with the English Tree Sparrow (XXV). 



