Chipping Sparrow. 203 



his fair charmer, while she perhaps coyly refuses the first 

 proffers of her admirer. Waiting a short time, the male 

 again offers her the tempting morsel, often placing it 

 almost against her bill, and thus the scene is re-enacted 

 until the female accepts his offering, or he swallows it 

 himself. The yard about the kitchen door is a favorite 

 place for them to visit, as they are pretty certain to glean 

 a substantial meal from the shaken table-cloth. There 

 they must learn to elude the stealthy approaches of the 

 watchful cat, and she usually finds, after a few unsuccess- 

 ful attempts to capture them, that they are wiser than 

 their tiny heads would indicate, and thenceforth she 

 suffers them to take their supplies from the door-yard 

 without further molestation. 



The favorite nesting places of the chipping sparrow 

 are low bushes in the gardens and yards, and^ hedges 

 whioh have been trimmed very closely, and which sur- 

 round the dwellings they regularly visit. The nest is 

 placed among upright stems of the bushes, commonly 

 above the middle point. When in a hedge, it is usually 

 placed in a strong crotch near the top, the stout limbs 

 nearly concealing the nest. The nests in hedges are gen- 

 erally made before the leaves fully unfold, and hence the 

 structures can be discovered by keen eyes. After the 

 hedges are in full leaf it is difficult to find the nests. 

 Many nests are placed in currant and gooseberry bushes. 

 The trees of the highways and door-yards contain a fair 

 portion of nests, usually in crotches of obliquely ascend- 

 ing branches, sites that are similar to those chosen by the 

 yellow warbler. A pair of chippies frequently show their 

 attachment to their previous home by returning the next 

 season to the same vicinity and erecting a new home near 

 the same site. 



Sometimes the nest is made wholly of horsehairs and 

 cowhairs, and it must require much careful and patient 

 searching in the roads and barn-yards to procure the 

 necessary amount of material. It is eminently proper 

 that this sparrow should be sometimes called the " hair- 

 bird," for this material appears almost indispensable in 

 the fabrication of its home, as the cast-off snake skin is a 

 necessary component of the home of the crested flycatcher. 



