16 
TWENTY-SIX COMMON BIRDS. 
The song is irregular, not strong but very sweet Their call note, 
chee-wee is like that of a canary, and when they fly, they often 
mark the waves which the line of their flight assumes, by a suc¬ 
cession of notes, resembling the syllables chi-chi-cheet-ee. The 
young Goldfinches have a characteristic plaintive note, which is 
first noticeable in August, and continues to be heard well into 
September. 
CHIPPING SPARROW* 26* 
[SPIZELLA SOCIALIS.] 
One writer has proposed for this bird the name “ Door-yard 
sparrow,” so familiarly does the bird frequent the yards of our 
houses. It has been possible to induce it to enter the house by 
luring it with crumbs, and there is no doubt that if its habits 
led it to spend the severe winters with us, it would ac¬ 
cept our hospitality as readily as the Redbreast does abroad. But 
in October, it leaves New England for the Middle States, returning 
in early April. It soon builds its nest, rarely far from a dwell¬ 
ing, sometimes in apple trees but generally in low bushes. The 
nest is composed of fine roots and lined with hair. It contains 
four eggs of a light bluish green, with dark purple and black mark¬ 
ings about the large end. A second brood is raised during the 
summer. ^ The sexes are alike, but the young birds have streaked 
breasts and lack the chestnut crowns. The Chipping Sparrow, like 
the Song Sparrow, gathers much of its food, especially in the fall, 
winter, and spring from the ground, in the form of seeds, often 
those of injurious weeds and grasses; in summer, insects form a 
large addition to its bill of fare, many noxious moths being skill¬ 
fully seized even on the wing. The bird’s call note has given it 
his name; even its song is little more than a repetition of the 
syllables chip , chip , chip , dry and monotonous enough except 
from the association which this humble tenant has with our child¬ 
hood, when we too were u dooryard ” creatures. 
