A Prisoner from Greediness. 
A few days ago, while walking in the gar- 
den, I saw a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella socialix) 
make several attemps to fly from the ground. 
I thought at first the bird was wounded or 
had become entangled in a string or horse- 
hair, and was therefore unable to get free, 
but what was my surprise on going to the spot 
to see a green blade of grass protruding from 
the bird’s bill while it was still fastened at the 
root end where it grew. I easily took the bird 
in my hand, and plucking the blade of grass 
brought the bird indoors. I endeavored to pull 
the blade from the bird, but after extracting 
an inch or more it broke off, and compared 
with while I was pulling, the bird seemed 
relieved. 
On dissecting I found a grasshopper in the 
stomach and fully two inches of the grass 
blade wrapped around it. 
The bird in its eagerness to catch and swal- 
low the grasshopper had also swallowed a part 
of the growing grass blade on which it doubt- 
less rested, thus becoming a prisoner by its own 
greediness. Shelley W. Denton. 
Brewster’s Museum, Cambridge, Mass,, June 26, 1889. 
O &Q. X IV. July. 1889 p.109 
607. Sagacity of the Chipping Bird. By E. E. Fish. Ibid., p. 119. 
" " ' OTI . Bdf. mt. Field Club. 1883 
1046. Untimely death of a chipping sparrow. By W. L. Poteat. Ibid., 
VI, July 24, 1885.— Hung by the neck by becoming entangled in a horse- - 
eT /XJ ’ 1 ’ 
hair from its nest. 
88 ^ Unusual Nesting Places \_of the Robin and Chipping S*arrtm\ 
By Seym. Ingersoll. XIV, p. 324. For , g , ^ ] ' 
k, XII, . - >5, &P-/9Z-3. 
A Set of Unspotted Eggs of the Chipping Sparrow. — Nests of the 
Chipping Sparrow ( Spizella socialist are frequently found containing 
one or two of the eggs without spots, but never until the past summer 
have I found or heard of a set in which all the eggs were devoid of 
markings. The set in question was found at Milford Mills, Chester 
County, Pa., on May 17, 1894, at which time the nest contained two eggs. 
Being obliged to leave the locality on the following day, I had Mr. Frank 
Powell forward me the nest and eggs as soon as the set was complete. 
On close inspection there is seen a faint suggestion of a few small spots 
on the larger end of one of the eggs, but this is not noticeable on casual 
examination. The eggs are somewhat shorter than the ordinary type, 
but the transverse diameter is greater, thus giving them more of a 
rounded appearance. Their color, aside’ from the absence of spots, is 
normal. There was nothing unusual about the nest, it being composed 
of dried grass and lined with horse hair. It was built in the forks of a 
limb of an apple tree in an orchard. — Willard L. Maris, Newtown , Pa. 
p „ Auk, XII, July, 1895, p-3 of. 
Peculiar Nest of a Chipping Sparrow. — Regarding the use of unusual 
materials in the construction of nests, the following note may be of 
inteiest. A nest of Spizella socialis was found in Boylston, Mass., June 9, 
1890, built entirely of hog’s bristles. It was very white and neatly made 
but being placed in the underpinning of a cider mill in an exposed place, 
where it was quickly discovered by children, it was abandoned before 
any eggs were laid.— Helen A. Ball, Worcester , Mass. 
