THE OREGON NATURALIST. 107 



EASTERN DEPARTMEN 1'. EIABITS OF THE CHIPPING SPARROW. 



CONDUCTED BY THE ASSOCIATE EDITOR. BY C. O. ORMSBEE, MONTPELIER, VT. 



CHAT. Vermont, in common with the other New 



England states, and with New York, boasts 



The Marine Biological Laboratory at Wood's of flyg species of sparrow, so closely resembling 



HoU opened its eleventh consecutive session on Q^g another that the practiced eye of the expert 



the first of the month. The large and ever jg necessary in order to distinguish them by 



increasing number of students each year is a j^j^gij. general appearance. They are the song 



sufficient testimonial of the merits of the school, sparrow, the tree sparrow, the field sparrow, 



Under the competent management of Dr. C. the swamp sparrow, and the chipping sparrow, 



O. Whitman, the work progresses with the respect ively. In their food habits they resem- 



best of results. Mr. Waldron, the collector for ^le one another as closely as in their external 



the institution promises us a complete descrip- appearances. With the exception of the swamp 



tion of buildings, methods of woik and sparrow, which prefers a marshy or swampy 



lectures, next month. locality, and one that is far removed from any 



human habitation, they closely resemble one 



Address President I. S. Trostler, Omaha, Neb , 

 or Eastern Editor. 



After this issue the office of Eastern Depart- another in their general habits. With the ex- 



ment will be located in Providence, R I. ception of the song sparrow, which has a music- 



^ . al, and a remarkably pleasing voice, they have 



Anythine out of the usual, in regard m nests , , , . • ^1 ■ 



-' *' ' & ^^1 JQ^jg ^ resemblance to one another in their 



and eggs will lie thankfully received by the , , ,. . t 11 j- .• • u .1 



^'' . ■' vocd sounds, that I ran seldom distinguish them 



Oolosiists Association and incorporated in xI.ha , , 



1 t>y their notes, 

 leport on old and peculiar nests and nesting. , , , • , , • - .. ■ 



'_ , _ ., ; .-. „ , ,-. , ,, , In the location and construction of their nests, 



in the color and mailing of their eggs, and in 



their general habits of nidification, they differ 



A Massachusetts daily newspaper has had a ^' ^ ^' 



, ^ . L . ' ,, u- u 11 f Perhaps the most interesting of all is the 



lot to say about a new warbler which "one of ' *» 



, .,• . )i • 1 1 . ■ 1 chipiiinp sjiarrow, which on account of its 



Its hustling reporters saw in a local taxider. 1 1 fa 1 » 



■ . , T. n .u (1 • " .u domestic habits while nesting, has been named 



mists shop. It calls the "new species the _ °' 



, ■ , i7 /^i .1 1 1. frinziHa socialis and spizelia socialis. They 



brimstone warbler; Oh, tlie d 11 J t- ... 



arrive in this locality early in April and some- 



That human bodies are not to lie thought of times as early as the middle of March. They 



in certain places on the earth's circumference, come in flocks of about twenty and do not seem 



upon the d.-tes of August 8 and 9, seem a to be mated upon their arrival. The> mate 



foregone conclusion. The total ellipse of the soon after, and then separate from the flock, 



sun, visible in the northern part of Norway and which is soon dispersed; but it is not until the 



Finland, Nova Zembla, and the northern part first of May that they begin to build. Their 



of Japan and Sandwich Islands, will for the nests are flimsy aftaiis. composed of hay, and 



time being at least, bring the importance of the lined with long horse-hairs, from which cir- 



heavenly bodies forcibly before the minds of cumstance they are often called "hair birds." 



the natives. Many expeditions have Started 'I'h? nests are always in trees, and generally in 



and most of them are a.t their several stations, apple-trees, and from five to twenty feet from 



to watch and make known every gradation of the ground. There is no attempt at conceal- 



the phenomena. ment,and often ihe nest is by the side of, or above 



