THE FIELD SPARROW AND THE CHIPPER 31 



rows, very differently feathered the male and 

 the female. 



In a short chapter like this I am not going to 

 attempt a miracle. If you read it to the end, 

 never so carefully, you will not be prepared to 

 name all the sparrows at sight. As I said be- 

 fore, they are a hard set. My wish now is to 

 speak of two of the smallest and commonest. 



One of these is called sometimes the chipping 

 sparrow, sometimes the chipper, and sometimes 

 much less often the doorstep sparrow. Per- 

 sonally, I like the last name best, perhaps be- 

 cause I invented it. Scientific men, who prefer 

 for excellent reasons to have their own names 

 for things, call him Spizella socialis that is to 

 say, the familiar or social little spiza, or sparrow. 

 The idea of littleness, some young readers may 

 not know, is contained in the termination ella, 

 which is what grammarians call a diminutive. 

 Umbrella, for instance, is literally a small umbra, 

 or shade. 



With most readers of this book the chipping 

 sparrow is a bird of spring, summer, and autumn. 

 For the winter he retires to our extreme South- 

 ern States and to Mexico. If you live in Massa- 

 chusetts, you may begin to be on the watch for 

 him by the 5th of April. If your home is farther 

 south, you should see him somewhat earlier. 



