Plate 104 – Chipping Sparrow

Thomas Mayo Brewer (1814-1880) reported to John James Audubon that the Chipping sparrow was the most numerous sparrow, if not the most numerous species in Massachusetts. Almost facing opposite of the Chipping sparrow was the Field sparrow. “There appears to exist a kind of tacit compact” between the two. To the Chipping sparrow belongs all of the pastures and plowed fields, while the Field Sparrow commands not fields and pastures but tall grassy spaces, shrubs, and bushes. Brewer found no instance of overlap. During its migration south, Audubon noticed in the evening the Chipping sparrows throwing “themselves into thickets of brambles, where, in company with several other species, they keep up a murmuring conversation until long after dark.” While still very much occurring in Massachusetts, the Chipping sparrow is far from the most numerous species. That honor would more likely go to the European starling or Common grackle.