CHIPPING SPARROW. 321 



Arctic Ocean south, iii winter, to the Carolinas, Kentucky and Eastern Kansas. 

 Breeds north of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. 



Nest, indifferently on the ground or in a tree or bush, composed of grass, 

 rootlets, mud, fine grass and hair. 



Eggs, bluish-green, speckled and blotched with reddishdjrown. 



In Southern Ontario the Tree Sparrow is a regular winter visitor, 

 arriving from the north during the month of October, and remaining 

 over the winter in sheltered hollows or among the brush and weeds 

 by the banks of streams. In appearance it does not look like a 

 hardy bird, but while here it is exceedingly lively and cheerful, its 

 silvery, tinkling notes being frequently heard during the coldest 

 snaps in winter. At the" approach of spring all the Tree Sparrows 

 move off to the north, and none are observed during summer. 



SPIZELLA SOCIALIS (Wils.). 

 231. Chipping Sparrow. (560) 



Adah: — Bill, black ; feet, pale ; crown, chestnut, extreme forehead black, a 

 grayish-white superciliary line, below tliis a blackish stripe through eye and 

 over auriculars ; below, a variable shade of pale ash, nearly uniform and 

 entirely unmarked ; back, streaked with black, dull bay and grayish-brown ; 

 inner secondaries and wing coverts, similarly variegated, the tips of the 

 greater and lesser coverts forming whitish bars ; rump, ashy, with slight 

 blackish streaks ; primaries and tail dusky, the bill pale brown, and the head 

 lacking definite Ijlack. Length, 5-5^ ; wing, about 2§ ; tail, rather less. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, north to 

 Great Slave Lake, and south to Eastei'n Mexico. 



Nest, in a bush or among the vines, composed of rootlets and fine grass, 

 lined with horse-hair. 



Eggs, three or four, pale bluish-green, dotted, speckled or scrawled with 

 dark brown. 



Prior to the advent of the House Sparrow, the Chipper was the 

 most familiar and best known bird around our dwellings, and though 

 now in the minority, it still builds its nest in the garden, and comes 

 familiarly near the door to pick up crumbs for the support of its 

 family. 



It is very generally distributed over Ontario, being found near 

 the dwellings of rich and poor alike ; in shade trees in the city as 

 well as in weedy corners and thorn bushes in the pasture-field. 



It arrives from the south about the end of April, and at once 

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