320 The Chipping Sparrow 



matter, three-fourths of which is made up of noxious insects. In June, 

 ninety-three per cent, of the food consists of insects, of which thirty-six 

 per cent, is grasshoppers; caterpillars, twenty-five per cent.; and leaf- 

 eating beetles, six per cent. I have been much impressed with the value of 

 this bird in the garden during the spring and summer months. It destroys 

 at least three species of caterpillar on the cabbage. It is the most destruc- 

 tive of all birds to the injurious pea-louse, which caused a loss of three 

 million dollars to the pea-crop of a single State in one 

 Gardener* year> ** is a P ers ' stent destroyer of the grubs that 

 mine the leaves of beets. I watched one bird secure 

 eleven of these grubs in a few minutes." 



The song of the Chipping Sparrow is little more than a continued, 

 monotonous repetition of chippy chippy chippy. This is given in a high, 

 wiry voice, and the notes are run together until the sound suggests the 

 trilling of some insect. Few sparrows have ever attained a high place as 

 singing-birds. 



Late in the summer, Chippy changes his dress. He loses the ruddy 

 brown cap which he has worn all summer, and in appearance now much 

 resembles his mate. He then goes to the fields, where you may find him 

 associating with Snowbirds, and with other kinds of sparrows. As insect- 

 food becomes scarce, and cold weather approaches, he changes his diet 

 also, and begins to eat seeds of grasses and weeds. Then there comes 

 a morning when Chippies cannot be found ; over large areas of the north- 

 ern part of their range they have disappeared. During 

 Migration the night they have taken up their long flight toward 



the south. The journey does not go on continuously, 

 but the birds stop to feed and associate with their friends here and there 

 on the way. 



In the Southern States you may find this bird in winter enjoying the 

 company of friends and neighbors; but wherever found, or under what- 

 ever conditions you see it, the Chipping Sparrow shows a gentleness in 

 disposition which insures for it the friendship of all who study its ways 

 and spy upon its coming and going. 



Classification and Distribution 



The Chipping Sparrow belongs to the Order Passeres, Family Fringillidcc, and 

 Genus Spizella. Its scientific name is Spizella passerina. It inhabits in summer all 

 North America, from central Canada to Georgia and Texas, and winters in the 

 Southern States. Those on the Pacific slope differ somewhat in color, and are 

 distinguished as a western subspecies (5". p. arizonce). 



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