BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 295 
cheerfully, with the plumage all loosened and puffy, making 
very pretty ‘roly-poly’ looking objects. There is a partic- 
ular kind of plant here, the seeds of which endure all winter, 
furnishing a favorite repast. In a clump of these tall weeds 
dozens of the birds may be seen together busily feeding. 
Some, more energetic, spring up and cling to the swaying 
penicles, picking away, while others gather about the stem, 
getting a good dinner without trouble off the seeds that their 
neighbors above rattle down. At such times the whole com. 
pany keep up an animated conversation, expressing their 
satisfaction, no doubt, in their own language; it is more than 
chirping and not quite singing—a low, soft, continuous chant- 
ing, as pleasing as it is indescribable. The Tree Sparrow is, 
indeed, one of the sweet-voiced of our sparrows and one very 
fond of singing, not only in the spring, but at other seasons; 
times are hard with it indeed when it cannot, on occasion, 
tune its gentle pipe.” 
SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 
Middle of the back with the feathers dark brown centrally, 
then rufous and edged with pale fulvous (sometimes with 
whitish); hood and upper part of nape continuous chestnut; a 
line of same from behind the eye; sides of head and neck 
ashy; a broad, light superciliary band, beneath whitish with a 
small circular blotch of brownish in the middle of the upper 
part of the breast; edges of tail feathers, primary quills and 
two bands across the tips of the secondaries, white; tertiaries 
nearly black; edged externally with rufous, turning to white 
near the tips; lower jaw yellow; upper black. 
Length, 6.25; wing, 3. 
Habitat, eastern North America west to the Plains. 
SPIZELLA SOCIALIS (Witson). (560.) 
CHIPPING SPARROW. 
‘‘Chippie,” as this most common sparrow is popularly called, 
is also named the Hair Bird, on account of its nearly uniform 
habit of lining its nest with coarse, long hairs. It builds in 
low trees, door-yard shrubs and currant bushes, preferably 
near the habitations of men. The nest consists of roots, 
twigs and grasses, lined as above. 
Its proclivity to rear its young so near our homes, display- 
ing the utmost confidence in man, picking up for most of its 
food his waste, is what has given it the scientific specific name 
‘‘Socialis.” Its common note and songs chip-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip-ip, 
have given it the common name with which the notice of this 
bird begins. 
