THE CHIPPING SPARROW. 73 
last named material is exclusively employed, and Dr. Wheaton mentions two 
nests composed entirely of white hair. A horizontal branch of an apple tree 
is a common situation, but nests are placed in evergreens and other shade 
trees, or in hedge-rows and the like. They are often so loosely related to 
their immediate surroundings as to give the impression of having been con- 
structed elsewhere and then moved bodily to their present site. Some are 
set as lightly as feathers upon the tips of evergreen branches, and a heavy 
storm in season is sure to bring down a shower of Chippies’ nests. 
Dr. Brewer in his monumental work! states emphatically that 
\ in no instance has he known of the Chipping Sparrow’s nest on the 
ground. Yet Dr. Wheaton mentions 
such an in- 
stance, and in 
the spring of 
1903 I came 
upon a_ nest 
with one egg, 
Ie ye tee vieliny 
shadow of an 
apple-tree, — 1n- 
deed, but thor- 
oughly settled 
upon the 
ground under 
the protection 
of a grass-tus- 
ie { sock. 
Photo by J. B. Parker. A ae 2 Chipping 
@ tt s Sparrows are 
PLEASE, FATHER, I WANT SOME GRUB. dev ted Debir — 
THE FEMALE IS BROODING THE FLEDGELINGS ON A VERY WARM DAY, BU1 Pe Pe ge te 
ONE YOUNGSTER IS HUNGRY AS WELL AS HOT. ents, and raise 
at least tw 
broods each season. Their fidelity to their young and their confidence in man 
make them frequent subjects of the photographer's skill, and their por- 
traits are among the most pleasing in collections. 
The Cowbird finds these gentle creatures among her easiest victims. 
After the dusky changeling has stifled or ejected the rightful heirs, he usurps 
the full attention of his foster parents, and one of the saddest sights to see 
in the bird-world is that of a mother Chippy, slender and care-worn, standing on 
tiptoes to cram food into the mouth of some squawking, pot-bellied, cuckold 
squab of twice her size. 
1 North American Birds, Baird, Brewer & Ridgway; Land Birds, Vol. IT., p. 10. 
