CHIPPY. 63 



brown and black, his wings are crossed by narrow 

 whitish bars, and underneath he is a pure light 

 ash color. 



Notice the bill chippy has to crack seeds with. 

 It is the short, thick, conical bill of the family, 

 and contrasts not only with the long slender bills 

 of the worm -eating robin and bluebird in No. 

 14, but with those of the oriole, crow blackbird, 

 and meadow-lark in No. 3. The bobolink shows 

 the nearness of No. 3 and 4 in his partly conical 

 bill, and also in flight, though, by coloring, he is 

 more closely related to the crow in No. 2. It is 

 hardly necessary to suggest the differences that 

 separate chippy from the chimney swift, the ruffed 

 grouse, the humming-bird, the cuckoo, and the 

 ant-eating yellow hammer. 



Of our common sparrows chippy alone has no 

 real song, but he trills away monotonously, 

 by the hour, you are tempted to think, with 

 cheerful perseverance that would grace a better 

 cause. He is called " hair-bird " because he lines 

 his nest with horse or cow hair, and when you 

 think of the close observation and industry it takes 

 to find this hair you will recognize not only the 

 power of inherited habit but the fitness of the 

 name hair-bird. 



Last summer a chipping sparrow built in a jas- 

 mine bush in the crotch of a neighbor's piazza. 

 When the little mother was startled by intruders 

 she would dart into the bush, crouch down, flatten 



