BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 225 



cheerfully, with the plumage all loosened and puffy, making 

 very pretty 'roly-poly' looking objects. There is a partic- 

 ular kind of plant here, the seeds of which endure all winter, 

 furnishing a favorite repast. In a clump of these tall weeds 

 dozens of the birds may be seen together busily feeding. 

 Some, more energetic, spring up and cling to the swaying 

 penicles, picking away, while others gather about the stem, 

 getting a good dinner without trouble off the seeds that their 

 neighbors above rattle down. At such times the whole com- 

 pany keep up an animated conversation, expressing their 

 satisfaction, no doubt, in their own language; it is more than 

 chirping and not quite singing — a low, soft, continuous chant- 

 ing, as pleasing as it is indescribable. The Tree Sparrow is, 

 indeed, one of the sweet-voiced of our sparrows and one very 

 fond of singing, not only in the spring, but at other seasons; 

 times are hard with it indeed when it cannot, on occasion, 

 tune its gentle pipe." 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Middle of the back with the feathers dark brown centrally, 

 then rufous and edged with pale fulvous (sometimes with 

 whitish); hood and upper part of nape continuous chestnut; a 

 line of same from behind the eye; sides of head and neck 

 ashy; a broad, light superciliary band, beneath whitish with a 

 small circular blotch of brownish in the middle of the upper 

 part of the breast; edges of tail feathers, primary quills and 

 two bands across the tips of the secondaries, white; tertiaries 

 nearly black; edged externally with rufous, turning to white 

 near the tips; lower jaw yellow; upper black. 



Length, 6.25; wing, 3. 



Habitat, eastern North America west to the Plains. 



SPIZELLl SOCIALIS (Wilson). (560.) 



CHIPPING SPARROW. 



"Chippie," as this most common sparrow is popularly called, 

 is also named the Hair Bird, on account of its nearly uniform 

 habit of lining its nest with coarse, long hairs. It builds in 

 low trees, door-yard shrubs and currant bushes, preferably 

 near the habitations of men. The nest consists of roots, 

 twigs and grasses, lined as above. 



Its proclivity to rear its young so near our homes, display- 

 ing the utmost confidence in man, picking up for most of its 

 food his waste, is what has given it the scientific specific name 

 "Socialis." Its common note and songs chip-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip, 

 have given it the common name with which the notice of this 

 bird begins. 



