IJK 



THE WESTERN' CHIPPING S 



PAR 



RUW. 



XOT all birds are titly named, even in the "immutalilc Latin," Init this 

 one has a very accnrate title in S/^isi'lla sminlis uricoiKc', whicli we may freely 

 translate as lite friendly little spiinow of the desert. An obscure little fellow 

 he is to eye. a skit done in faded browns, with a chestnut crown which still 

 does not ditTerentiate the owner from a withered corymb in his native sage. 

 Of the desert he is, for there is no sage-brush wilderness too dreary to Ixiast 

 the presence of at least a few Chipping .sparrows. And friendly he is. I)e- 

 vond question, for there are few dooryanls in the eastern part of the State 

 where this bird is not a trustful visitor: and his presence in western Wash- 

 ington is nearly coextensive with that of man. For altho the Chipping 

 Sparrow ni)W abounds in the prairie region of Pierce and adjacent counties, 

 it is instructivf to iiotf that its plumage gives no evidence of rcsaturation, 



or of departure from the 

 bleached type, as would be 

 the case if it belonged to one 

 of the really "old families" 

 of Puget Sonntl 



Whatever the weather. 

 (.'hip])y returns to us aljout 

 the i-'th day of April. i)osts 

 himself on the tip of a fir 

 branch, like a brave little 

 Christmas candle, and pro- 

 ceeds to sinitter. in the same 

 part. Of all homely soun<ls 

 the monotonous trill of the 

 Western Chipping Sparrow 

 is the most homely, — and 

 the most easily forgivable. 

 As music it scarcely ranks 

 above the rattle of cas- 

 tanets: but the little singer 

 |)ours out his soul full earn- 

 estly, and his ardor often 

 leads him to sustained effort thruout the sultry hours when more brilliant 

 vocalists are sulking in the shade: ami for this we come to prize his homely 

 ditty like the sound of plashing waters. 



Two Chip|)ing Sparrow songs heanl near Tacoma deserve s|ieciai 

 mention. One likened itself in our ears to a tool l)eing ground on a small 

 emery wheel. The wheel has a rough place on its |icriphery which strike^ 



Taken in I'u-rce Counl\. 



Pholo bx the .tull ( 



jrST .M<K1\ Kit. 

 ciiiPriNi; srARRow, adi-lt ma 



a. So callcl f..r 

 nutabile Sfmf'cr A. < 



Ihru the lalc«l caprice o( nomrncLittir 



