Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds 
reddish brown with black markings. Feet, which are black, 
have conspicuous, long hind claws or spur. 
Female — Rusty gray above, less conspicuously marked. Whitish 
below. 
Range— Circumpolar regions; northern United States; occasional 
in Middle States; abundant in winter as far as Kansas and 
the Rocky Mountains. 
Migrations — Winter visitors, rarely resident, and without a fixed 
season. 
This arctic bird, although considered somewhat rare with us, 
when seen at all in midwinter is in such large flocks that, before 
its visit in the neighborhood is ended, and because there are so 
few other birds about, it becomes delightfully familiar as it nimbly 
runs over the frozen ground, picking up grain that has blown 
about from the barn, when the seeds of the field are buried under 
snow. This lack of fear through sharp hunger, that often drives 
the shyest of the birds to our very doors in winter, is as pathetic 
as it is charming. Possibly it is not so rare a bird as we think, 
for it is often mistaken for some of the sparrows, the shore 
larks, and the snow buntings, that it not only resembles, but 
whose company it frequently keeps, or for one of the other long- 
spurs. 
At all seasons of the year a ground bird, you may readily 
identify the Lapland longspur by its tracks through the snow, 
showing the mark of the long hind claw or spur. In sum- 
mer we know little or nothing about it, for, with the coming 
of the first flowers, it is off to the far north, where, we are told, 
it depresses its nest in a bed of moss upon the ground, and lines 
it with fur shed from the coat of the arctic fox. 
Chipping Sparrow 
( Spi^ella socialis) Finch family 
Called also: CHIPPY; HAIR-BIRD; CHIP-BIRD; SOCIAL 
SPARROW 
Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. An inch shorter than the English 
sparrow. 
Male — Under the eye, on the back of the neck, underneath, and 
on the lower back ash-gray. Gray stripe over the eye, and a 
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