210 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



near one another, to sing until one finally succumbs, often 

 falling dead on the floor of his cage ! 



XIV. SPIZELLA 



(A) SOCIALIS. Chipping Sparrow. "Chipper." Etc. "Hair- 

 bird" 



(A very common summer-resident in Massachusetts, and 

 almost throughout the United States.) 



(a). About 5 inches long. Crown, chestnut; forehead, 

 black (former in <? often black- streaked). Interscapulars, red- 

 dish-brown, edged with paler and black-streaked. Rump, ashy 

 (slightly streaked ?). Tail forked, and dusky with pale edgings. 

 Superciliary line, light ; eye-stripe, dark. Under parts, white ; 

 lower throat and breast, very light warm gray (= "pale ash"). 

 Two narrow white bars on the wings, which otherwise accord 

 with the back and tail. (Bill black, occasionally paler ; never 

 reddish as in pusillus.) 



(b). The nest is almost invariably composed of fine rootlets 

 (occasionally in pastures of straw, and therefore compara- 

 tively bulky), and is lined with horse-hairs, whence the name 

 " Hair-bird." I have one made entirely of white hairs, and 

 strikingly different from all other specimens of bird-architec- 

 ture. The nest is usually placed, not far from the ground, 67 

 in shrubbery near houses, in piazza-vines, or in cedar-trees 

 particularly those in pastures ; also not infrequently in pines 

 or orchard-trees, and less often in shade-trees. The eggs aver- 

 age *68 X '48 of an inch, and are light but bright bluish-green, 

 with dark purplish and black markings, which form a ring 

 about the large end (and are rarely like the scrawls on the 

 eggs of the blackbirds, 17, IV). In Massachusetts, two sets 

 of four^or five are usually laid every year, the first of which 

 commonly appears about the first of June. 



(c) . The Chipping Sparrows are the most familiar and abun- 

 dant summer-residents in Massachusetts, of all the numerous 

 finches. They reach the neighborhood of Boston about the 



87 In a few exceptional cases it has been found upon it. 



