Birds of Allegany Park 259 



The Kingbird's voice is high-pitched and harsh. It has no song, 

 but its commonest notes sound like " keep-keep-kip kipa kipa kipa 

 kip," emitted rapidly. The nest is built in a tree, preferably an 

 apple tree in an orchard or a shade tree overhanging a stream. One 

 or both parents are usually perched near the nest, guarding it from 

 all intruders. The eggs are a beautiful creamy white, with rather 

 large, elongated spots of reddish brown and lilac. 



Chipping Sparrow. Spizella passerina passerina (Bech.) 



This bird is smaller than the English Sparrow. The top of the 

 head is bright chestnut or reddish brown, bordered by white lines 

 over the eyes and black lines through them. The back- is grayish 

 brown streaked with black, with bars in the wings, and the under 

 parts are light gray without marks. Young birds lack the bright 

 crown and are striped on the breast. 



The Chipping Sparow is a common bird in the orchards and 

 scattered shade trees of the Park. It is often an exceedingly tame 

 and familiar little bird. It may occur about the edges of the more 

 open forest, but is unknown in dense woods. 



The song is a simple trill of rather unmusical quality. It varies 

 in individuals mostly in time, some songs being slow enough to 

 count the separate notes easily, but others so rapid that these notes 

 cannot be counted. The song is usually all on one pitch, but occa- 

 sionally there is a slight rise or fall. 



The nest is placed in a tree, bush or vine, often in the tangle of 

 a porch trellis. It is made of small twigs and grasses, and lined 

 with horsehair. The blue eggs are marked with blackish spots near 

 the larger end. 



Goldfinch. Astragalinus tristis tristis (Linn.) 



This little bird is smaller than the English Sparrow. The male is 

 brilliant yellow, except the wings, tail and top of the head, which 

 are black. There is a bar of white in the wing and a few white tips 

 on the tail feathers. The bill is bright orange. The female is dull 

 olive color, somewhat yellowish beneath and with prominent wing 

 bars. 



The Goldfinch is abundant in the Park, inhabiting orchards and 

 shade trees, and in smaller numbers the margins of thickets. The 

 birds may be seen in small flocks in early summer and in pairs later. 

 They feed commonly on seeds of the Canada thistle, dandelion 

 and other plants of the composite family. They fly from place to 

 place with a distinctly undulating flight. 



The song of the Goldfinch is bright, pleasing and canary-like. It 

 is quite varied, a single bird commonly singing a dozen or more 

 different variations, one after another. In spring the birds sing 

 together in flocks, but this is not a common habit in summer. The 

 song season continues well into August, when most other species 

 have ceased to sing. The call notes are " cher-wichery, cher-wich- 

 ery," given with each undulation in flight, and " swee-see-ee " with 

 an upward inflection to the second note. Both these calls are fre- 

 quently interpolated in the song. 



