178 



THE OOLOGIST 



A July nest of Clay-colored Sparrow. Site, 

 •typical. Eggs (4) circled with small spots, not 

 ■typical. 



our commonest sparrow, — and almost 

 our commonest summer bird. One of 

 the most welcome spring-time notes, in 

 the southern locations, is the thrill of 

 the Chipping Sparrow. This note we 

 mostly miss, in the north; it being re- 

 placed by the locust-like buzz of the 

 pale northern race; this buzz becoming, 

 with some individuals, most intensely 

 metallic in its timbre. 



The tyro cannot mistake the differ- 

 ence in note; but he is unlikely to catch 

 the differences in color. On critical 

 scrutiny, however, he notes the dark 

 superciliary stripe, in pallida, — and 

 marks the absence of bright color from 

 the crown. Other differences await his 

 notice. 'Chippy" comes, in twos* and 

 threes, mainly; and throngs the tree- 

 tops; pallida comes, first, a herald or 

 two, — and, next day, whole troops of 

 him; so that, by the second or third day 

 in May, here in Kittson county, every 

 wide expanse of meadowy, brush-land 

 echoes and vibrates, at early morning, 

 with that not unmusical buzz with which 

 pallida greets the early day. And pal- 

 lida is a bird of lowly habit. He shuns 

 the larger trees; and feeds and plays 

 amid the lower growth wherein his 

 summer home will be. They that have 

 come to know him thoroughly and fami- 



liarly will see him flitting, in troops of 

 six to a dozen or more, from every wil- 

 low bush and bit of weedy meadow, 

 amid the poplar, burr-oak and willow 

 brush-land that makes up so uniform 

 and so picturesque a feature of the Red 

 River prairies. 



By May 25th, in Kittson county, 

 whether it rain or shine, the skilled ob- 

 server will begin to start these little 

 quaker sparrows from the stretches of 

 weeds and dead grass, among the shrubs, 

 in pairs; and will find, with astonishing 

 ease, the nearly finished nests. His un- 

 initiated companion peers, eagerly, into 

 every budding burr-oak bush; while he, 

 himself, catches, quickly, a half-intui- 

 tive certainty of the right spot in which 

 to look; that bit of prone dead grass 

 and weeds, along the margin of that 

 tiny meadow-spot. A foot or two back 

 of where the bird arose will be found 

 the nest,— sometimes. And it will be 

 placed, most frequently, about eight 

 inches up; or, almost as often, a foot or 

 so above the ground; and sometimes 

 even well sunken into the very ground 

 itself. This, however, rarely. 



The nesting dates are remarkably un- 

 iform. Between the first and the fifth 

 of June, nine-tenths of the nests found 

 will contain eggs that are either fresh, 

 or but slightly incubated; while, a week 

 later, it is unusual to find eggs that are 

 not far advanced in incubation. 



The mothers are close sitters, from 

 the first. Curiously enough, the sitting 

 birds habitually feed quite near the 

 dawn; so that a skilled search, at day- 

 break, in a favorable locality, will not 

 flush as many birds, by far, as the same 

 sort of search will do, if made a couple 

 of hours later. During incubation, the 

 birds are very tame. The female flush- 

 es very readily; but not until the dis- 

 turber is but a few feet away. The 

 male is sure to be eyeing one, from the 

 nearest weed-stem or willow top; but 

 neither he nor his mate will make much 

 ado, should one tarry too long', in his 

 nest-examining. 



