



AMERICAN OSPREY. 



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VOL. 1. 



A8HLAND, KY., AUGUST, 1890. 



NO. 8. 



BIRD STUDIES.— IV. 



A SPARROW TRIO. 

 BY PIC US. 



The genus Spizella contains three spar- 

 rows, which, though looking much alike, 

 are very different in regard to the posi- 

 tion they occupy in the world. These are 

 the Chipping, Field and Tree Sparrows. 



The Chipping Sparrow is common in 

 trees about houses, but is found also in 

 the orchard and other places near to the 

 dwellings of mankind. He rivals the 

 English Sparrow in fearlessness, but is 

 without that bird's arrogance and ag- 

 ressiveness. In some sections his con- 

 fiding disposition has won for him the 

 name of "Social Sparrow." 



"Hair Bird" is another appleation by 

 which the Chipping Sparrow is known. 

 He gets this name from the manner of 

 building his nest. Horse hair always 

 predominates if that material is obtain- 

 able; the outside is composed of grasses. 



The nest is placed in any convenient 

 bush or tree about the house, and fre- 

 quently in the orchard. The eggs are 

 four or five, deep bluish green, heavily 

 marked with black at the larger end, 

 and differ from all other eggs found in 

 the same situations. 



The Chipping Sparrow's song is a 

 series of chips — almost a trill. It may 

 be heard at almost any time: in the early 

 morning, at broad noon, in the rain or at 

 night. 



The Field Sparrow, is, as his name im- 

 plies, an inhabitant of fields. While the 

 Song Sparrow prefers the rich meadows, 

 the Field Sparrow loves the slashings 

 and the lonely pastures half grown up 

 to bushes — "That line of land where the 



cultivated beauty and fertility of the 

 fields end, and the solitude and gloom of 

 the forest begins." 



The Field Sparrow is the smallest 

 American sparrow, and may be distin- 

 guished from the Chipping Sparrow by 

 the absence of the black stripe which 

 borders the red crown. His song, too, 

 readily marks him as a different bird. 

 It begins in a high clear whistle, the 

 first four or five syllables slow, the rest 

 gradually quickening and running 

 down the scale a little, ending in a trill. 



The nest is placed on the grond, rare- 

 ly in a bush, and cleverly built into the 

 surrounding grasses. It is composed of 

 the finest grasses and lined with fine 

 rootlets, horse hair and pine needles. 



The eggs are usually four. Ground 

 color, grayish white, thinly speckled 

 with red-brown and lavender. This 

 bird is often victimized by the Cowbird. 



Although the Tree Sparrow looks so 

 much like the Chipping Sparrow, there 

 is little danger of their being confound- 

 ed by tyros in ornithology, for the Tree 

 Sparrow is a winter resident and the 

 Chipping Sparrow a summer resident; 

 when one leaves the other appears and 

 vice versa. But there is another way to 

 distinguish the Tree Sparrow, he is the 

 only one of the three under consider- 

 ation which has a dusky spot on the 

 breast. 



While with us the Tree Sparrows go 

 about in large fiocks and make merry in 

 the swamps and weedy fields. In 

 spring they consort with their relatives, 

 the Juncos, and migrate North with 

 them. 



The Tree Sparrow does not nest in the 

 United States except, perhaps, in the 

 mountainous regions along our northern 

 frontier. 



