212 LAND-BIRDS AND GAME-BIRDS 



a long, dry-toned, unmusical trill, which, from their perch on 

 fence or tree, they often repeat during the breeding-season and 

 summer. These trills have several variations, which are some- 

 times combined, one with a rising inflection being followed by 

 a more open one with a reverse inflection. It is said that in- 

 dividuals have actually been known to sing, and very sweetly, 

 but such cases are wholly exceptional, " et lusus naturae." 



The Chipping Sparrows are " so tame as to be fed with 

 crumbs from the table," so fearless of man as to be much fa- 

 vored by him, and so common that they may eventually become 

 as intimate in our households as certain birds of Europe are in 

 those of their country. 



(B) MONTICOLA. Tree Sparrow. 68 "Arctic Chipper." 



(In Massachusetts, a winter-resident, generally quite com- 

 mon and regular in appearance.) 



(a). About six inches long. ("Bill black above, yellow 

 below.") Crown, chestnut, in winter slightly marked. Super- 

 ciliary line, dull white; eye-stripe (and maxillary line), dark. 

 Interscapulars, bright bay, pale-edged, and black-streaked. 

 Rump unmarked; tail, dusky ("black") with white edgings. 

 Under parts, white. Sides of head, lower throat, and upper 

 breast, ashy-tinted; the letter with a dark central blotch. Sides, 

 however, and rarely the whole under parts, brown-washed or 

 buffy. Two conspicuous wing-bars, white ; part of the wing 

 black. Wings otherwise as in socialis, " in keeping with" the 

 back. 



(&). The Tree Sparrows breed in Arctic countries only. 

 Their eggs are strikingly like those of the Swamp Sparrow 

 and allied species (XIII, C), exhibiting some variation. A 

 specimen before me measures about -77 X *55 of an inch, and 

 is of a faint and vague blue or green, finely marked with brown 

 all over, clouded with umber-brown about the crown, and 

 splashed in one or two places with a pale and peculiar tint of 

 the same color. Dr. Brewer says that the eggs "measure 



es Not to be confused with the English Tree Sparrow (XXV). 



