. Wild life of orchard and field;. ly inconspicuous. Another early and familiar visitor to the gardensis the chipping sparrow, or chippy, its dehcatevoice coming to us from among the first blossomsof the lilac. It is also called the hair-bird,because its nest is composed mainly of horse-hairstwined into a flat little basket of slender twigsand rootlets. But this is not a good name; thescientific designation—social sparrow—fits thebird better, for it seeks to be social with man, andplaces its home where every boy and girl of thefamily may look in at the front door. The eggsare pea-green, scrawl
. Wild life of orchard and field;. ly inconspicuous. Another early and familiar visitor to the gardensis the chipping sparrow, or chippy, its dehcatevoice coming to us from among the first blossomsof the lilac. It is also called the hair-bird,because its nest is composed mainly of horse-hairstwined into a flat little basket of slender twigsand rootlets. But this is not a good name; thescientific designation—social sparrow—fits thebird better, for it seeks to be social with man, andplaces its home where every boy and girl of thefamily may look in at the front door. The eggsare pea-green, scrawled, as though by a pen, withblack lines and dots. The food of the chippy during the spring andsummer consists largely of small insects, andhe searches carefully through the blossomingtrees for the minute bugs that infest the leavesand flowers, occasionaUy nipping off the sweetand tender stamens of the apple and cherry blos-soms, or taking bites out of the early currants, but,on the whole, doing great service in payment for 132. A Chipping SparroW WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD his trifling harm. He flits quietly and busily allover the shrubbery, an image of a happy andcontented little workman, tra-la-la-ing in a fine,trilling voice that would be shrill were it not sosweet, an aria from some bright bird-opera. The chippy is so easily watched that I do not pro-pose to tell all I have learned about it, and thusrob a reader of the pleasure of learning its beauti-ful ways for himself. You will not find it difficultto become acquainted with these pygmy sparrowsafter you have recognized their chestnut capsamong your rose - bushes. You will see, also,that you may tame them and teach them to cometo you for crumbs. They are almost the onlybirds that the insolent English sparrow^s will befriendly towards; and they are wonderfully de-voted to their young: but I am forgetting thatthe reader was to find all this out for himself! I have in mind the delta of a river whose shoresare so leve
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectanimalb, bookyear1902
