Several years ago my attention was called to the large 
number of Chipping Sparrow’s nests that were empty and > 
overturned. For every nest with young of this kind, I find It, #VOv ' v ft* 
the average is a little more than ten that have been de- 
spoiled. This is the work of Catbirds, for I have seen 
them robbing the nests many times. 
u/. tv. «?<►* _ 
9 
Took a Chipping Sparrow’s nest with 
one of her eggs and one Cow Banting’s in 
it. The Sparrow had built over the top 
of the nest a perfect net work of horse 
hair, same as the lining of the nest, and 
so nicely that although one could see the 
eggs plainly it could be turned “ bottom 
side up” and the eggs not fall out. I never 
saw this before in Chipping Sparrows’ 
nests. “ I put ’em in the bag” with the 
rest. 
Nesting Notes from Connecticut. 
I found a Chinning S parrow’ s nest on 
the limb of an apple tree containing one 
egg and a Cowbird’s egg. I took the 
Cowbird’s egg and in a few days after I 
noticed a pair of Robins building on the 
top of the Chipping Sparrow’s nest, and 
when they had completed their set of four 
eggs I took both nests by cutting off the 
limb. On removing the Robin’s nest it 
exposed two eggs which were in the Chip- 
ping Sparrow’s nest. ^ 
O.&O. Till. Oct. 1883. p. /p 
Birds Tioga Co, N, Y. AlaenLoring 
211. Chipping Sparrow. Common. Arrives 
from the south March 22d, or later, in small de- 
tached flocks. About the middle of May or a 
little later these birds begin nest building. This 
is placed in a crotch at the end of a limb of an 
apple tree, or in a small pine or evergreen. It 
is deeply hollowed and is very frail, often 
blowing down and spilling its contents. It is 
composed mostly of small grass and horse 
hair and is lined with horse hair. The eggs, 
usually four in number, sometimes three, are of 
< 
d. Spizella socialis. Chipping Sparrow^Six 
deserted nests containing one or more eggs eacli * 
of the Cowbird have been recorded. These 
nests usually contained an egg or two of the 
Sparrow, which, like most of the Cowbird’s. 
had been chipped in the sides and part of the 
contents gone. It is usually the habit of the 
Cowbird to watch closely a nest which is 
about completed, and when the first egg is 
laid it generally deposits one or more of its 
own. It will then revisit the nest in a day 
or two and if the eggs are thrown out, which 
quite often is the case, another is deposited, 
and the result will be that the bird is either 
forced to desert its nest or hatch the in- 
truder’s egg. 
In this locality the Chipping Sparrow is a 
great sufferer from the Cowbird’s obstructive 
habits. To illustrate the difficulty experi- 
enced iii this direction I give the substance of 
my observations on a pair which built re- 
peatedly in some evergreens about the prem- 
ises. Their first nest as soon as completed 
was noticed by a female Cowbird which had 
been about for some time, and for several 
days it made a visit to the nest (always when 
the birds were away feeding) each day until 
the first egg had been deposited, when im- 
mediately a Cowbird’s egg appeared, which, 
when discovered by the Sparrows, was thrown 
over the edge of the nest, hut the next 
day another was left by the Cowbird, which 
was broken within the nest, perhaps in at- 
tempted efforts to remove it. This nest was 
then deserted and another commenced not far 
from it, which fared with materiallythe same 
results. 
It was now quite late in the season, and 
although the pair of Sparrows remained 
about constantly they did not make further 
attempts to raise a brood. I know of no in- 
stance of tiie Chipping Sparrow’s ever 
hatching a Cowbird’s egg. 
Oi&Oi XlV*S£pt, 1889 p 138 
Chippie’s nest on the top of a post about 
twenty feet from the ground. A beam 
rested on the edge and a couple of strips 
were nailed on either side and a board pro- 
jected over them, making a sort of box. 
The nest was built like any other Chippie s 
and about jjtea&Sp.'/*/ 
Philo W. Smith, St. Louis, Mo. 
General Notes ] 
Abnormal Eggs of Spizella socialis. — On July 4, 1892, at Lake Grove, 
Long Island, New York, I secured a remarkable set of four eggs of the 
Chipping Sparrow {Spizella socialis ) . Instead of the normal gieenish 
blue, the ground color of the eggs is a dirty or greenish -white ; they are 
thickly specked, spotted and blotched all over, more thickly at the larger 
end, where the spots become confluent, with dark russet-brown and a few 
faint blotches of lavender. Their average size, .73 X .55 inch, is slightly 
greater than the average of six sets in my collection, which is .68 X -S3 
inch. Their shape’ is rather more pointed than is usual in eggs of this 
species, yet they can be quite closely matched, both in shape and size, by 
eggs from my collection. They were nearly hatched. I saw the bird on 
the nest on four or five different occasions, as I wished to fully satisfy my- 
self of the identity of the eggs.— Arthur H. Howell, Brooklyn , N. T. 
Auk IX, Oct, 1892. p.395 
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