320 
The Chipping Sparrow 
Helping the 
Gardener 
matter, three-fourths of which is made up of noxious insects. In June, j 
ninety-three per cent, of the food consists of insects, of which thirty-six 
per cent, is grasshoppers ; caterpillars, twenty-five per cent. ; and leaf- I 
eating beetles, six per cent. I have been much impressed with the value of ; 
this bird in the garden during the spring and summer months. It destroys 
at least three species of caterpillar on the cabbage. It is the most destruc- | 
tive of all birds to the injurious pea-louse, which caused a loss of three > 
million dollars to the pea-crop of a single State in one i 
year. It is a persistent destroyer of the grubs that i 
mine the leaves of beets. I watched one bird secure 
eleven of these grubs in a few minutes.” 
The song of the Chipping Sparrow is little more than a continued, 
monotonous repetition of chippy chippy chippy. This is given in a high, 
wiry voice, and the notes are run together until the sound suggests the 
trilling of some insect. Few sparrows have ever attained a high place as 
singing-birds. 
Late in the summer. Chippy changes his dress. He loses the ruddy 
brown cap which he has worn all summer, and in appearance now much 
resembles his mate. He then goes to the fields, where you may find him 
associating with Snowbirds, and with other kinds of sparrows. As insect- 
food becomes scarce, and cold weather approaches, he changes his diet 
also, and begins to eat seeds of grasses and weeds. Then there comes 
a morning when Chippies cannot be found ; over large areas of the north- 
ern part of their range they have disappeared. During 
Migration the night they have taken up their long flight toward 
the south. The journey does not go on continuously, 
but the birds stop to feed and associate with their friends here and there 
on the way. 
In the Southern States you may find this bird in winter enjoying the 
company of friends and neighbors ; but wherever found, or under what- 
ever conditions you see it, the Chipping Sparrow shows a gentleness in 
disposition which insures for it the friendship of all who study its ways 
and spy upon its coming and going. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Chipping Sparrow belongs to the Order Passeres, Family FringillidcB, and 
Genus Spizella. Its scientific name is Spizella passerina. It inhabits in summer all 
North America, from central Canada to Georgia and Texas, and winters in the 
Southern States. Those on the Pacific slope differ somewhat in color, and are 
distinguished as a western subspecies (S. p. arisoncc). 
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. 
