CHIPPING SPARROW 



But it is well to note that none of these variations affects 

 his unalterable rhythm. 



White-throat is a perfect little curiosity-box! I have 

 never yet failed to call him from a considerable distance, 

 by imitating his song. In more than one instance it has 

 been possible by this means to draw a dozen or more 

 birds about me, all of whom were devoured with curi- 

 osity to find out why such a great hulking, wingless 

 bird should be familiar with their own language! One 

 could whistle all day to an Oriole, and it is doubtful 

 whether he would pay the slightest attention. 



Chipping This common little Sparrow is esteemed 



more for his social disposition than his 

 is izelht talent as a musician. As for his music, it 



socialis scarcely deserves the name; it is too strid- 



L. 5.35 Inches ulent and monotonous to deserve atten- 

 April aoth fc on j n appearance, too, the bird is 

 very ordinary. Forehead black; crown chestnut red; 

 back of the neck streaked with black; a conspicuous 

 gray line runs over and back of the eye with a black line 

 above and back of it; bill dark sepia; back striped with 

 black, ruddy brown, and ochre; region above the tail 

 gray; under parts ashen gray, the throat lighter; wing- 

 bars very indistinct, the wings marked like the back. 

 Female similarly colored. Nest of grasses, fine twigs, 

 and rootlets, lined with numerous long hairs, and situ- 

 ated from five to six feet above the ground (sometimes 

 nearly twenty) in a tree or bush, and quite often in 

 an apple-tree. Egg blue-green, freckled with chestnut 

 red and sepia. The range of this species is throughout 

 eastern North America, and as far north as Great Slave 

 Lake. It breeds throughout its range, and winters in 

 the Gulf States and Mexico. Fully one third of its food 

 consists of (injurious) insects, including many beetles 

 and grasshoppers; the rest consists almost exclusively 

 of seeds. 



Chippy's song is pitched extremely high somewhere 



in the octave just beyond highest C so of musical tone 



it must be admitted he possesses very little or none at 



all. Undoubtedly most listeners would pronounce it a 



101 



