THE INSPIRING SPARROWS. 27 



opportunities or has not the knack of seeing them 

 aright. Too often a bird is shot on sight and its 

 habits are guessed at It is even down in many 

 bird-books that the vesper-sparrow is not one of our 

 winter species. But let us back to the birds. The 

 song-sparrows build near my house, so near, some- 

 times, that the shutters shake their nesting sites ; the 

 " chippy" takes to our door-yard trees and bushes, 

 and over the fence, in every field, the vesper-bird 

 and grasshopper-finch and field-sparrow stay and are 



Chipping Sparrow. 



glad all summer, and the first named all the year ; 

 and when it tires of grass and weedy growths, trips 

 lightly up and down the dusty road, always happy, 

 ever tuneful. 



I have spoken frequently of door-yard ornithology, 

 but it is possible to bring the subject still nearer 

 home, and speak of door-step birds. This may be 

 overstepping the mark, but the dear little chestnut- 

 crowned " chippy" comes very near to being a tame 

 wild bird. I believe that, were it not for cats, it would 

 freely feed from the window-sill, if not enter our 



