SPIZELLA DOMESTICA : CHIPPING SPARROW. 267 



While Spring still hesitates, with lingering doubts 

 of the reception to be given by New England, for 

 patches of snow still cling to the shaded hollows and 

 north-facing slopes, one may hear from some bush 

 or tree by the wayside a rapid succession of sharp 

 sounds, as if bits of flint were being chipped by striking 

 against each other. This is the way the bird-medley 

 soon to follow is opened by the familiar bird who takes 

 his name from such peculiar quality of voice a clever 

 little fellow in a jaunty red cap, with a good deal of 

 self-possession if not self-assertion, and a great favor- 

 ite. Later in the season, when he has settled with his 

 mate at our very door, the children make Chippy's 

 acquaintance, peering into the maze of the shrub- 

 bery that climbs over the piazza, or into the heart of a 

 cedar bush, to discover the neat horse-hair nest there 

 snugly hidden. 



On the whole, the Sparrow family is not noted for 

 the elegance or the ingenuity of their architecture ; 

 nor are the many species well distinguished by their 

 styles of nest-building. The Hair-bird is one of the 

 most notable in these respects, making a much neater 

 fabric than usual, and one scarcely to be mistaken for 

 that of any other bird. It is a deep cup, with a smooth, 

 firm brim, almost invariably lined with horse-hairs, 

 and sometimes consisting chiefly or entirely of such 

 material ; usually, however, fine grasses and rootlets 

 form the substance of the walls and basement. The 

 location of the nest is also to some extent character- 

 istic. Chippy seldom, if ever, and then only for a 

 freak, nests on the ground, and not often in trees 

 of any size, bushes and vines being entirely to his 

 fancy. Becoming accustomed to the presence of man, 



