CHIPPING SPARROW 113 



Chipping Sparrow : Spizella socialis. 



Top of head reddish brown ; under parts plain gray ; back 



brown streaked with black ; bill black. Length, about 5 



inches. 

 GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION. Eastern North America; breeds 



from the Gulf states to Newfoundland and Great Slave Lake ; 



winters in the Gulf states and Mexico. 



Mr. Torrey says if he could have his way this 

 little bird should be known as the 'door-step 

 Sparrow,' and certainly no 

 name could be more appropri- 

 ate. Many delightful instances 

 are on record concerning par- 

 ticularly tame Chipping Spar- 

 rows, but none is more interest- 



FIG. 55. 



ing than that given by Mr. chipping Sparrow. 

 Robert B. Lawrence, a nephew 

 of the distinguished ornithologist, George N. 

 Lawrence, who tells how a ' Chippy ' acquaint- 

 ance of his father's became a confidential friend. 

 Mr. Lawrence says in a note in ' Forest and 

 Stream : ' " For years at our place in Flushing, 

 L. I., my father has fed some half dozen of these 

 Chipping Sparrows, and the young birds have 

 taken bread or seed from his hand when it was 

 held near the ground, but the old birds would 

 never allow any such familiarity. One of the 

 adult birds, however, seemed more inclined to 

 do so than his companions, and at last, in the 

 summer of 1879, mustered courage enough to fol- 

 low the example of the young birds, and, finding 



