x THE CHIPPING SPARROW, 
General Range.—Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, 
north to Great Slave Lake, and south to eastern Mexico, breeding from the Gulf 
States northward. 
Range in Ohio.—A common, and universally distributed summer resident. 
Sparingly resident in winter in southern portion. 
WHO has not seen this little pensioner of doorstep and lawn? Wilson 
was quite correct in naming him socialis, sociable; the more so if the word be 
not construed in its ordinary sense of gregarious, but made to witness to the 
bird’s preference for human society. The Chipping Sparrow hops fearlessly 
about our yards in search of food, or flutters up with a load of nesting material, 
from our very feet, not with brazen impudence like the English Sparrow, but 
with the quiet confidence of a trusted friend. No bird is more likely than he to 
accept the proffered hospitality of honeysuckle vine or trellis, and instances are 
beyond number where the gentle “Chippy” has been coaxed to eat from the 
hand. 
Of all homely sounds the monotonous trill of the Chipping Sparrow is the 
most homely—and the most 
easily forgivable. As music 
it scarcely ranks above the 
rattle of castanets, but the 
little singer pours out his 
soul full earnestly, and his 
ardor leads him to sustained 
effort throughout the sultry 
hours when more brilliant 
vocalists are sulking in the 
shade; and for this we come 
to prize this homely ditty 
like the sound of plashing 
waters. It is the Chipping 
Sparrow too that may usu- 
ally be depended upon to 
open the morning chorus at 
about 3 :15, and that were ser- 
vice enough to endear him to 
the heart of the ornithologist. 
Chippy’s nest is a frail af- 
fair at best, but often most 
elaborately constructed of 
rootlets and fine grasses and 
Taken in Fairfield Co. Photo by the Author. plentifully lined with horse- 
CHIPPING SPARROW’S NEST IN APPLE TREE. hair a cree instances the 
