FINCHES 



4^ 



tural state like Iowa, Tree Sparrows annually 

 eat apjiroxiinately 875 tons of weed seeds. Only 

 the farmer, uiion whose shoulders falls the heavy 

 hurdcn of freeing; his land of noxious weeds, 

 can realize what this vast consumption of weed 

 seeds means in the savini; and cost of lahor. 

 Dr. Judd reports an interestini; illustration of 

 the Tree Siiarrow's habits which was noticed 

 durint; a heavv snnwstorm in the third week of 

 Februarv. Here and there, where the whiteness 

 of the field was pierced by i)halanxes of dry 



broom-sedge, a flock of a d<:)zen or more Tree 

 Sparrows found good cheer in spite of driving 

 flakes. From one brown i)atch to another they 

 flew, clinging to the plants while they [iluckcd 

 out the seeds, seldom leaving a stalk unexplored. 

 Frequently two would feed from a single stalk, 

 while a third, made thrifty by the wintry dearth, 

 hopfK'd in the snow below searching for scattered 

 seeds. The snow whirlefl in clouds across the 

 i'leld, Init these little creatures worked on with 

 cheerful, hardy industry. 



CHIPPING SPARROW 

 Spizella passerina passerina ( Bcchslciii ) 



A. O. U. Xuniber 5C0 See Color I'l.itc 8.) 



Other Names. — Chip-bird ; Chippy ; Hair-bird ; 

 Social Sparrow : Hair .Sparrow; Little House Sparrow. 



General Description. — Length. 5'< inches. Upper 

 parts, gray, rusty, and black, streaked ; under parts, 

 gray. Bill, small ; wings, rather long and rather 

 pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, deeply forked, the 

 feathers narrow and blunt. 



Color. — Adult M.\le: Crou'ii. deep ciiinamon-nifous 

 to rujous-chcstnut ; the forehead, black divided by a 

 center streak of whitish ; a broad stripe of white or 

 very pale gray over eye margined below by a conspicu- 

 ous streak of black, the latter extending beyond the 

 ears; ear and under eye regions, sides of neck, and 

 hindneck, gray, the last streaked with blackish ; back 

 and shoulders, light brown or drab broadly streaked 

 with black, the black streaks edged with rusty-brown ; 

 rump and upper tail coverts, deep olive-gray or mouse- 

 gray, the latter somewhat darker centrally ; tail, dusky, 

 the feathers edged with light gray ; lesser wing-coverts, 

 mouse-gray with darker centers ; middle coverts, dusky 

 broadly margined terminally with white or huffy form- 

 ing a band; greater coverts, dusky edged with pale 

 wood-brown or buffy-brown, usually passing into whitish 

 or pale buffy at tips of feathers; inner wing-quills, 

 dusky broadly edged with wood-brown or pale buffy 

 brown ; primaries, dusky narrowly edged with pale gray- 

 ish ; under parts, white or grayish-white; the chest, 

 sides and flanks shaded with pale gray ; iris, browrr 

 -Adult Female : Similar to the male and frequently not 

 distinguishable, but usually (?) with the rufous crown 

 slightly less extended and often streaked with dusky. 

 Winter adults have the colors duller, the markings less 

 sharply contrasted, the gray less pure, the chestnut 

 crown obscured by buffy tips to the feathers. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Built in bushes, hedges, or 

 almost any kind of tree, especially cedars, usually close 

 to houses, the orchard being a favorite locality ; a deli- 



cate. o[>en-work structure of fine, curly rootlets, cleverly 

 interwoven and always thickly lined with horse-hair, 

 sometimes constructed almost entirely of this material. 

 Eggs ; 3 or 4, rarely 5, bluish-green, thinly spotted 

 with blackish brown, often wreathed at large end. 



Distribution. — Eastern LTnited States and British 

 provinces, west to the Great Plains; breeding from 





ving by R. I. Brasher 



CHIPPING SPARROW (I nat. sizel 



near the Gulf coast nortliward to Nova Scotia, New 

 Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. Province of Quebec, 

 and wooded region on eastern side of the Saskatchewan 

 plains ; wintering chiefly in the more southern United 

 States (Florida to Eastern Texas and northward); 

 casual winter visitant to Cuba (and eastern Mexico?). 



This Sparrow is one of the best known and 

 most loved of our door-vard birds. Its confi- 

 dence in the friencUiness of man seems to be no 



less than that of the Robin and Pduebird, whence 

 one of its names, the .Social Sparrow. .Another 

 popular name, " Hair-bird," refers to the bird's 



