LAND BIRDS. 509 
Distribution.— Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, 
north to Great Slave Lake and south to eastern Mexico; breeding from the 
Gulf States northward. 
This familiar little sparrow is too well known to require any extended 
description. It nests abundantly in all parts of the state, showing, however, 
a decided preference for the cultivated regions and a decided hiking for the 
society of man. Were it not for the ever-present English Sparrow and the 
far too abundant cat this bird would be found in every dooryard in the state 
where there were a few shrubs and trees. It arrives from the south in April; 
from the 3d to the 12th in the southern counties, from the 5th to the 15th 
at Lansing, and from the 25th of April to the 5th of May at Sault Ste. Marie. 
Its departure in the fall has not been so accurately noted, but it probably 
leaves the northern counties before the middle of September and the 
southern counties before the first of November. Mr. Swales states that 
he has seen it near Detroit as early as March 29, 1891 and as late as October 
25, 1893, but that the bulk of the species leaves much earlier. 
It commonly rears two broods, nests with eggs being found about the 
middle of May and again about the first of July. The nest is placed usually 
in a shrub or tree, small evergreens being preferred, but it is sometimes 
found high in an apple tree or an oak, and not infrequently in a tangle of 
vines or even on a lattice or the cornice of a house. It is always compactly 
built of grasses, weed-stalks and roots, and so invariably and heavily lined 
with hair as to have given the bird the name of “ Hair-bird.” 
The eggs are commonly three or four, of a beautiful blue-green color, 
thinly spotted and lined with brown and black, often wreathed at the 
larger end. They average .69 by 50 inches. 
The young birds when able to fly differ noticeably from the adults, being 
thickly streaked below so that they are often mistaken for other species. 
Old and young often collect in flocks in late summer and mingle more or 
less with other species. 
The song is a peculiar trill which is very variable, sometimes justifying 
the usual description “like the sound made by striking two small pebbles 
together rapidly,” but at other times it consists of a succession of more 
musical notes uttered at somewhat longer intervals and not distantly 
suggesting the song of the Junco. 
The food of the Chipping Sparrow is very varied, consisting largely of 
grass-seed and weed-seeds, but also of other vegetable substances, including 
a few berries and the buds and leaves of chickweed and other herbaceous 
plants. It eats a variety of insects with relish, including grasshoppers, 
beetles, bugs and caterpillars, and when feeding young it gathers immense 
numbers of span-worms and other injurious insects. It is not known to 
do any harm whatever; on the contrary it is one of the best friends of the 
agriculturist and should be encouraged and_ protected everywhere. It 
suffers much from the English Sparrow, the Blue Jay, the Cowbird, and the 
domestic cat, but in spite of all these enemies it remains one of our most 
familiar and abundant birds. 
TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION. 
Adult in summer (sexes alike): Tail decidedly shorter than wing; forehead black; 
crown bright reddish brown or chestnut, without streaks and usually without trace of 
median pale stripe; a whitish or light gray line from nostril over and behind the eye, and a 
narrow black line across the lores and continued behind the eye; sides of head and sides 
