186 CHIPPING SPARROW. 



overrun the land. He was introduced into this country 

 in 1851, and in 1870 was found only in the cities of the 

 Atlantic States. Now he has spread over the greater 

 part of the United States and Canada. 



If he were restricted to the cities we should have only 

 his never-ceasing, maddening chatter and our soiled walls 

 to complain of ; but he has invaded not only the towns 

 and villages and the neighboring houses, but visits also 

 our grain fields and fruit orchards, our woods and marshes. 

 ~No effective method for his extermination has been de- 

 vised, and I fear we must accept the Sparrow as a penalty 

 for the shortsightedness and ignorance which permitted 

 us to meddle with the laws of Nature. 



If we except this ever-present nuisance the Chippy 

 is the most domestic of our Sparrows. He seems thor- 



Chipping Sparrow, ughly at nome about our doorsteps ; a 

 Spizeiia sodaiis. contented, modest little bird who ap- 

 PiateXLV. parently tries hard to believe in the 

 goodness of human nature, even though he meets with 

 but little encouragement. One wonders why he has not 

 long ago given up the attempt to make friends with us, 

 so rarely do we show any appreciation of his advances. 

 The house cat is Chippy's chief enemy. Crouching and 

 crawling, waiting and watching, she misses no opportunity 

 to pounce on an unsuspecting bird. It is surprising that 

 any escape. But each spring, about April 10, the Chippy 

 comes back to us after a winter in the cotton, corn, and 

 broom-sedge fields of the South, and soon we hear his 

 unpretentious, monotonous chippy -chippy -chippy , many 

 times repeated, and occasionally running into a grasshop- 

 perlike trill. 



About a month later we may find further evidence of 

 his too often misplaced trust in a neat, hair-lined nest 

 built in the vines on the veranda or a neighboring tree. 

 The eggs are unexpectedly pretty, a bright blue or bluish 



