Evening star., 1948-02-07
This and That
BIZ Charles E. TrdceUeU
"NASHVILLE TENN.

Lear 0lF.
"a reader of your column in The washington
Star for about ~ years. have become inter-
ested in our birds and their ways, and in
efforts to understand, appreciate and protect
them.
Although not in position to actively par
ticipate in feeding program, 7 do feel that
those who can and do assist, especially in the
winter season. in saving the lives OF our birds,
are greatly to be commended.
II have been interested during my stay here,
to note the efforts of citizens individually and
through organization activity, to aid in a
feeding program during the very severe snow
and ice conditions which have existed here.
do we have the chipping sparrow around
the District, perhaps under another name?
Yours very truly.
r. A. j."
The chipping sparrow is a common summer
resident of the District of Columbia and nearby
Maryland and Virginia.
1t Is seen here, as an average thing, from
March "a to November 10, but occasionally as
early as February 8, and there is one case on
record as of December II. A few of them may
remain the year around.
Some confusion exists in the popular mind
between the field sparrow, the chipping sparrow
and the tree sparrow.
Marks Of plain difference exist, however.
The things to look for in the chipping spar
white breast and gray rump.
In the field sparrow, look for the reddish
bill
In the tree sparrow, the mark of identihca-
ton is the dark spot in the middle of the
breast.
The chipping sparrow, often called simply
chippy, is very friendly creature, hence one
of its common names, social sparrow.
It's length is 51a inches; the upper parts are
gray streaked rusty and black; underparts,
gray. The bill is definitely small, and the
wings long and pointed the tail is forked or
double rounded.
The adult male is on the crown deep
the male, except that her crown is less in
extent This is difficult thing to estimate;
so for most observers a chipping sparrow will
be simply chipping sparrow, sex unknown.
This bird is often called a hair bird, due to
its fondness for horse hair in nest building.
Some scientists regard this as strange since
these sparrows were here long before horses,
and used plant fibers to line their nests. But
for some reason they found the hairs of horses
to their liking, and persist in trying to find
them today, If they can.
Some persons even swear that these birds
are migrating, in o sense, to farms, in order
to find horse hair.
Ornithologists tell us that this use of horse
hair is dangerous, since the hairs form loops,
in which both parent and baby birds are
caught and killed.
The chippy is great insect eater 1t goes"
for almost anything in the bug" line. 1t also
is great consumer of crab grass seed.
An interesting observation about this species
is that at one nest with four young, an average
of II feelings an hour were made, with total
of 23S insects eaten by the babies in IA hours.
The nest is usually placed in hedge or
tree, with orchard trees preferred, but close to
a house is also tops" with them.
Fine roots are used, interviewer with the
favorite horse hairs and the lining is entirely
of this, when it can be obtained.
Sometimes the entire nest is made of hair
No wonder the bird is called hair sparrow
The tree sparrow, despite its name, seldom
perches in trees, and not often nests in them.
1t was estimated that the tree sparrows in Iowa
ate s75 tons of weed seeds year.
Weeds sticking above the snow keep these
and other species alive in winter Humans who
feed the birds in city and suburbs do their
share toward keeping the feathered friends Of
man alive. 1t would be extremely shortsghted
to deny these friends OF man all the food they
need.