CHIPPING SPARROW, OR HAIRBIRD 



Forehead black; crown chestnut; a light line over the 

 eye and a black one behind it ; back of neck gray ; back streaked 

 with black, buff and reddish ; wings and tail dusky ; under parts 

 grayish-white; throat nearly white; bill black. Length, five 

 and one-half inches. 



Nest, in bushes or trees, five to twertty feet up, often near 

 the house, made of grasses, twigs and fine roots, well lined with 

 hair. Eggs, four to five, blue with brown or black markings, 

 .75 X .50 inches. 



About April first the Chipping Sparrow arrives from the 

 Gulf States where it has wintered, and spreads over the North, 

 and far into Canada. Though very plain in dress, its gentle, 

 trustful ways make us like it. Very often the nest is built in the 

 shrubbery or vines about the farmhouse and the crumbs from 

 the table may become Chippy's food. Kind treatment will so 

 win its confidence that it will sometimes eat from the hand. 



The song is a high, shrill, chippy, chippy, chippy quite 

 monotonous to hear. This is among the- first birdnotes of the 

 morning and one of the last of the evening. Indeed, it may 

 sometimes be heard in the middle of the night when the bird 

 seems to be trying to cheer itself with its own simple song. 



The nests of this species vary widely in structure. John 

 Burroughs says of them: "The Chipping Sparrow contents 

 itself with a half dozen stalks of dry grass and a few long hairs 

 from a cow's tail, loosely arranged on the branch of an apple 

 tree." This description is quite true of many of its nests, yet 

 some are bulky masses of grass and rootlets, while others are 

 entirely composed of hair. In every nest there is a good lining 



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