BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 303 
as it destroys May beetles, leaf hoppers, and sawflies. It 
eats more useful insects than some other Sparrows, and takes 
a good many spiders, some ants, and some earthworms. It 
also eats the seeds of many weeds, but feeds largely on the 
seeds of grasses and a little grain, mostly oats. A dozen of 
these Sparrows collected in a wheat field had eaten no wheat, 
but were feeding on weed seed. 
The Field Sparrow, though less valuable to the farmer than 
some other species, is useful, and fills a place of its own. 
Chipping Sparrow. Chippy. Chipper. Chip Bird. : Hair Bird. 
Spizella socialis. 
Length. — Five to five and one-half inches. 
Aduit.— Crown bright reddish-brown ; back brown, dark-streaked ; a light-gray 
line over the eye, a blackish line through it; cheeks and under parts light 
gray or pale ash; tail slightly notched. 
Young. — Breast, sides, and top of head streaked. 
Nest. — Lined with hair; in a bush, vine, or tree. 
Eggs.— Light bluish, with a ring of dark spots around the larger end. 
Season. — April to October. 
This is the little dooryard bird that nests in the apple trees 
about the house, and picks up crumbs on the old stone door- 
step. Itis common in village dooryards, 
along the roads, in orchards, pastures, 
and particularly in gardens and plowed 
lands. It holds the distinction of being 
the most familiar and useful of all Spar- 
rows in the yard and garden. Unlike 
some other Sparrows, it is often found jig SBA Nagi 
far from bushy coverts, in the very cen- Sparrow, aboutone-half 
ter of plowed fields. sie 
The song of the Chipping Sparrow is a mere string of dry 
chips, sometimes repeated very rapidly and almost running 
into a trill, sometimes more slowly. On a spring morning 
the sound of the distant birds answering one another in dif- 
ferent keys gives an impression like the rising and falling 
of the breath of a sleeper in the fields. Occasionally some 
talented bird modulates its usual song, giving a somewhat 
more musical, varied rendition, which suggests some of the 
songs of Warblers. The ordinary notes are a variety of 
