64 
The Tree Sparrow 
every year sees winter birds in the East as happy and contented as though 
among summer fruits and flowers instead of snow and ice. In the eastern 
part of the country, however, the Tree Sparrow is found in bushes on the 
edge of woodland, or along the fence-lines and by the roadside, as the 
extensive weed-patches of the West are rarely found in the East. 
In considering this bird’s food-habits one is apt to wonder where it gets 
its water. On the western prairies the thermometer stands far below the 
freezing-point for many weeks at a time, and in Iowa, at least, the ground 
is often bare of snow for most of the winter, so that the bird is not able 
to procure this as a substitute, even if one can imagine any creature reliev- 
ing its thirst by eating ice or snow when the temperature is 25 degrees 
below zero. 
The heavy snows of the East often bury the food of the seed-eating 
birds out of their reach, and then they are sadly put to it for means of 
subsistence. At such times they will come about houses and gardens 
where some unusually tall weeds project above the snow and give them 
a dinner ; or they will visit the stock-yard where hay has been fed to cattle, 
and in the scattered chaff they will find a banquet quite to their taste. 
At my New England home I used to place a bed of chaff upon the 
snow, in full view from some favorite window, into 
Winter Feeding which corn or other grain was strewn to attract the 
Blue Jays, whose bright plumage and sprightly, saucy 
manner did much to enliven an otherwise rather monotonous landscape. 
The Tree Sparrows were not slow to take advantage of these food- 
supplies, and often watched the place till the Jays left, and then took 
possession of the bed, from which they gathered seeds of hay and weeds, 
scratching industriously with their feet till the looked-for seed was found. 
It is difficult to conceive of a more harmless bird than the Tree Spar- 
row. It eats no grain and does not prey upon fruit — in fact it is not in 
the region when grain and fruits are available for food. Perhaps, there- 
fore, it is not necessary to recommend this bird to protection, for nobody 
seems to have any desire to harm it. Long may it enjoy this immunity ! 
Classification and Distribution 
The Tree Sparrow is classified as belonging to the Order Passeres, the Sub- 
order Oscines, and the Family Fringillidce. Its scientific name is Spisella monticola 
monticola. It breeds in the central Canadian Provinces, and winters from southern 
Minnesota and the Maritime Provinces south to eastern Oklahoma and South 
Carolina; but those of the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Slope are regarded 
as a variety called Western Tree Sparrow (s. m. ochracea). 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association Of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
