FRINGILLIDJE THE FINCHES. 273 



So well known is the common Chipping Sparrow, Chip-bird, or 

 Chippy, that a particular account of its habits is hardly necessary 

 here. Perhaps the most familiar and confiding of all our birds, it 

 is at the same time one of the most beneficial; and, so far as we 

 are aware, possesses not a single objectionable trait. Says Dr. 

 Brewer (Hist. N. Am. B., Vol. II., pp. 9, 10): 



"The tameness and sociability of this bird surpass that of any 

 of the birds I have ever met with in New England, and are only 

 equaled by similar traits manifested by the Snowbird (J. hyemalis) 

 in Pictou. Those that live about our dwellings in rural situations, 

 and have been treated kindly, visit our doorsteps, and even enter 

 the houses, with the greatest familiarity and trust. They will learn 

 to distinguish their friends, alight at their feet, call for their accus- 

 tomed food, and pick it up when thrown to them, without the 

 slightest signs of fear. One pair which, summer after summer, had 

 built their nest in a fir-tree near my door, became so accustomed 

 to be fed that they would clamor for their food if they were any 

 morning forgotten. One of these birds, the female, from coming 

 down to the ground to be fed with crumbs, soon learned to take 

 them on the flat branch of the fir near her nest, and at last to 

 feed from my hand, and afterwards from that of other members of 

 the family. Her mate, all the while, was comparatively shy and 

 distrustful, and could not be induced to receive his food from us, 

 or to eat in our presence." 



Spizella pallida (Swains.) 



CLAY-COLORED SPARROW. 



Emberiza pallida SWAINS. F. B.-A. ii, 1831, 251. 



Spizella pallida'Bp. 1838. BAIKD. B. N. Am. 1858, 474; Cat. N. Am. B. 1859, No. 360. 

 CouES.Key.1872,143; Check List,1873,No. 180; 2d ed. 1882,No. 272; B. N. W. 1874.148.- 

 B. B. & K. Hist. N. Am. B. ii. 1874,11, pi. 27, flg. 3. RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881. No. 

 212. 

 Emberiza shattuckii AUD. B. Am. vii, 1843, 347, pi. 493. 



HAS. Great Plains, from the Saskatchewan to Texas, and (in winter) along the 

 southern border to Arizona and Cape St. Lucas, west to base of Rocky Mountains, east 

 to prairies of Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois. (NOTE. The "Emberiza pallida" of Audu- 

 bon's works is not this species, but S. breweri, Cass., which replaces 8. pallida from 

 the Bocky Mountains to the Pacific coast The two species are closely allied, but quite 

 distinct) 



"S'p. CHAB. Smaller than 8. socialis. Back and sides of hind neck ashy. Prevailing 



color above pale brownish yellow, with a tinge of grayish. The feathers of back and 



crown streaked conspicuously with blackish. Crown with a median pale ashy and a 



lateral or superciliary ashy white stripe. Beneath whitish, tinged with brown on the 



18 



