SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows 



resembles as to be called the Winter Chip-bird, coming at a 

 season when the sociable Chippy has gone south. Why it 

 is called Tree Sparrow is not so plain, as it does not build 

 in trees as frequently as the Chippy, and it haunts low 

 bushes. I have seen these Sparrows in December, feeding 

 in flocks on the ground, in company with Snowbirds and 

 a few stray White-throats ; dashing about and sometimes 

 singing in a sort of undertone, perfectly careless of cold. 

 Burroughs calls the song "a soft, sweet note, almost run- 

 ning into a warble." 



They are very hardy birds, and to them, as with all winter 

 birds, mere cold is secondary in comparison with cutting 

 winds. I have often seen them huddled under stone walls, 

 and once found a flock feeding in the bottom of a dry ditch ; 

 and in ploughed fields you will notice that they keep closely 

 to the furrows in windy weather. At night they troop into 

 the evergreen hedge, the piazza vines, and under the rick 

 edges, — anywhere that the wind may not pierce, for that, 

 together with scanty food, reduces their vitality. 



Chipping Sparrow: Spizella socialis. 



Hair-bird, Chippy. 



Plate 30. Fig. 2. 

 Length : 5-6.25 inches. 

 Male and Female : Dark chestnut poll, gray stripe over eye, brown 



stripe through it. Stripes along back, dark orange and brown. 



Wings and tail dust-brown. Under parts light gray. Young 



with some black streaks on crown. Bill black ; feet light. 

 Song : An insecHike tremolo, varying a little in tone from a locust. 



Call note, " Chip-chip 1" 

 Season : Common summer resident ; April to October. 

 Breeds : In the greater part of its range. 

 Nest : In bushes and also high trees, made of fine grasses and lined 



with horsehair — hence the name, Hair-bird. 

 Eggs : 4, greenish blue, with dark brown speckles. 

 Mange : Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, north 



to Great Slave Lake, and south to eastern Mexico. 



This is the precentor who, in early May dawns, gives the 

 key on his little pitch-pipe and leads the chorus that makes 



153 



