Chipping Sparroic. 201 



CHIPPING SPARROW. 



Any account of our familiiir friends of the highway and 

 door-yard would be incomplete without mention of the 

 familiar and well-known chipping sparrow. Who docs 

 not admire its pretty, modest ways? Its thoughtful con- 

 fidence in visiting our doorsteps to glean a breakfast of 

 crumbs, as well as its frequent residence in the door-yard 

 bush or the hedge surrounding the garden, where its snug 

 habitation is the delight of the children who respect its 

 winning trust, combine to render the little chippy a uni- 

 versal favorite. Many of the birds that visit our door- 

 yards are also residents of other localities, and only some 

 individuals of the species dwell among us, while the others 

 prefer to live elsewhere; but the chipping sparrow finds 

 its chief pleasure in the vicinity of dwellings and near 

 the society of man. It has nothing of the spirit of the 

 recluse, and we need not look for the chippy to be living 

 far away from the homes of man; for if we do not find it 

 inhabiting the hedges surrounding the house and out- 

 buildings, we will not find it elsewhere about the premi- 

 ses. Before the advent and establishment of the vicious 

 house sparrow, the engaging little chippy was a common 

 resident anywhere about our towns and cities in the parks, 

 highway trees, and gardens, and it is yet as familiar where 

 it has not been altogether displaced. It is a common sight 

 to see several of the truculent English sparrows set upon 

 one of the harmless chipping sparrows which is industri- 

 ously seeking its fare or the horsehairs it desires for the 

 construction of its nest, and brutally drive it from the 

 roadside, or else wound it severely and perhaps kill it. 

 In the larger towns and cities, where the English sparrows 

 are so firmly established, the presence of the chippy has 

 become the exception, and rural homes have become the 

 most favored resorts of the species. 



The chipping sparrow lives in the eastern portions of 

 temperate North America, extending its habitat westward 

 to the Rocky Mountains. In winter it passes as far south 

 as eastern Mexico, passing the season between that region 

 and the southern limits of the middle States. It is said 



