Plate XXVI. 



SPIZELLA SOCIAL/S-Chipping Sparrow. 



This well known and sociable species arrives from the South about the third week in March. In 

 mild seasons a few come a week or two earlier. As soon as the foliage upon the trees and bushes offers 

 the concealment desired they begin to build. Two broods are usually raised by each pair during the 

 summer, and sometimes three broods are hatched. 



LOCALITY: 



In the country, wet timber-lands are seldom resorted to for the purpose of nesting. I have never 

 seen the nest upon a low island or in a swamp, though about the banks of rivers and ponds it is far from 

 rare. The remarks concerning the locality of the Field Sparrow's nest, page 73, so far as they go, are 

 equally true of this species, except that it is never situated upon the ground. 



"With the exceptions noted above, the nest may be built in any locality, in almost any kind of tree, 

 bush, or vine ; but it is about farm houses and towns that they are especiallj^ abundant. 



POSITIO:^: 



The distance of the nest from the ground varies from one to thirty feet; usually it is not lower 

 than three feet nor higher than ten. When the nest is built in a tree, it is supported in any con- 

 venient place among the small branches. Sometimes it is in a perpendicular fork; sometimes in a hori- 

 zontal one ; but more frequently it is held by several irregular twigs. When in a bush or vine, it usually 

 rests among an entanglement of twigs or stems, though sometimes it is saddled upon a stem of con- 

 siderable size, and is held firmly by smaller ones at the periphery. 



MATERIALS : 



The materials of construction vary much with the locality and individual taste. The nest, as it 

 generally occurs in the w^oods, has a foundation and superstructure composed of rootlets, fine grasses, fibres, 

 and slender weed-stems; and a lining of still finer grasses and cow-hair, and long horse-hairs, if they can 

 be obtained. About farm houses and in towns various other substances are utilized. Sometimes it is 

 made entirely of hairs; sometimes strings and bits of rags are the principal materials; but, generally, 

 whatever constitutes the exterior, the lining is composed of cow-hair or horse-hair. The external diameter 

 is about three inches ; the external depth varies from one and one-half to two and one-qucirter inches. 

 The diameter of the cavity rarely varies more than one-eighth from one and three-fourths inches. 



EGGS: 



The complement of eggs is from three to five. The ground-color of the shell is light bluish-green. 

 About the base there is always a few blotches, spots, speckles, or lines of various shades of brown, some- 

 times so dark as to appear black; or, as is most frequently the case, a combination of them all. Deep 



103 



