The Chipping Sparrow 319 



It would be pleasant to say that all four of these young Chipping 

 Sparrows grew up and lived happy ever after, but this, alas, would not be 

 telling the truth. Our neighbor had a cat, and the cat knew of the nest 

 in the clematis-vine, and no doubt would have torn it down some dark 

 night had we not arranged some boards and a piece of tin in such a way 

 that it could not climb up the vine. But as soon as the young scattered 

 about the lawn, and before they were able to fly more than a few yards 

 at a time, the cat was ready for them, and before noon of the day they 

 left the nest one of the baby birds had disappeared. 

 It was just after luncheon when I heard the angry th^Catl 



chipping of our friends, the sparrows, and, dashing 

 out on the veranda, I saw the cat marching away with a bird-child in its 

 mouth. That cat was well fed and well cared for, and had all the good 

 food that any reasonable cat could mew for, yet its love for hunting was 

 so strong, that, like almost every other cat that you or I have ever seen, 

 it would catch birds if it had the chance. 



Chipping Sparrows are very useful birds, for they destroy "worms" 

 (the caterpillars, or larvae, of moths and butterflies) which eat holes in 

 the vegetables in the garden, and consume grass-blades and the leaves 

 of trees. 



Over large areas of the New England States, the gipsy-moth has be- 

 come a great scourge, for its caterpillars attack nearly all the trees in the 

 country except pines and cedars. They destroy the 



leaves ; and, as trees really breathe through their oe { Jf the . 

 . . . & ., , ,. Gipsy-Moth 



leaves, the gipsy-moth of course is responsible for 



killing the trees. Some States have tried many experiments in order to 

 learn how they may rid themselves of these pests. 



To learn more about the life-history of the gipsy-moth, the men in 

 charge of the experiments in Massachusetts not long ago built a large 

 inclosure out-of-doors. This was covered and surrounded by a thin 

 netting, inside of which a great many gipsy-moths were placed, where 

 their various habits could be closely watched. Then a curious thing 

 happened : the Chipping Sparrows began to arrive, and would continually 

 break through the frail netting to get inside the frame where they could 

 catch the moths. The men in charge did not think a moment of killing 

 the sparrows. No, indeed ! So useful a bird should not be destroyed ! 

 They did a much wiser thing, for they kept a man on guard to frighten 

 the sparrows away when they came too close to the 

 netting. The actions of the birds plainly showed that J^ 

 they much preferred to eat this noxious insect, in- 

 stead of contenting themselves with other kinds of food that might be 

 found in the neighborhood. 



These birds are very fond also of beet-worms, currant-worms, and 

 caterpillars of many kinds. Edward H. Forbush, who has spent a great 

 deal of time in finding out especially what birds eat, says: "In all, thirty- 

 eight per cent, of the food of the Chipping Sparrow consists of animal 



