perfect insects ; they also descend to the ground, search among une ee a a ee m7" i crea. tures peculiar to such localities, and occasionally take insects in the air eS ee! | n elurruping inmates of the nest in the water-spout or between the tiles oF dhe house. incessantly 1S ne copie going on, from April until August; for as soon as the sre brood is able to fly, the male is a Mi with the female; and who is there that has not seen this Sparrow-courtship, ue the Clem DIC ering fights between the males, when two or more are engaged in a furious struggle, ending, after all, in but ttle harm to either of them? At the moment I am writing, August 15, 1863, some young Sparrows are chirruping in a hole near my bedroom window, in Charlotte Street, Bedford Square—a circumstance which rather militates against the assertion made by some persons that the Sparrows leave London for the corn-fields jn summer ; still they may do so to a certain extent, Just as many of the poor of ts great city seals a change of air and employment in the great hop-fields of Kent—a measure equally beneficial to man and bird. It is not a little amnsing to watch closely the ways and doings of our constant Sa the Sparrow, who, as if presuming on our friendship, sets no bounds to his impudence towards ais feat brethren, and with great effrontery frequently seizes upon the hole selected by the Starling wherein to form its nest, and continues to hold possession until the Starling , loosing all patience, takes him by the neck and with main force draws him from the hole. This little altercation ended, and the stronger It not unfrequently happens that the fairy Martin, s of our houses, has scarcely finished her labours ere the The Martin is said to revenge itself upon the intruder in To fight so powerful a bird would answer no end; she therefore pl mud, and thus keeps him a prisoner. bird in possession, matters go on more amicably. which constructs her mud nest under the eave Sparrow seizes on the building. a curious way, asters up the entrance to the nest with The Sparrow will also frequently attempt to lord it over the Robin, by descending to the grass-plat and interfering with his avocations ; in this courageous bird, however, he finds his match ; for it would be beneath the dignity of the Robin to refuse a tilt with the Sparr is sure to be victorious. When the Sparrow keeps to his own place of br under the roof of a house, in the hole of a pollard, or frequently does, and which is doubtle It is a vexed question ow, in which he eeding, whether he may domicile among the branches of the trees of the garden ss the most natural situation), none of these str , in the thinking minds of the present d native birds which are supposed to subsist Generally speaking (which he ifes take place. ay, whether we are not wrong in destroying those of our upon grain and otherwise injure our crops. but I consider it would be quite as unwise to allo and multiply to the extent it would do, w aly carry six or eight Sparrows young, and kill every Weasel, Stoat, and Martin that ente the bird often makes its nest, and destroys as many more, A little judgment, temper keep a proper check upon the undue incre however, does the Sparrow become, the 7 it 1s undoubtedly wrong to doso; W so prolific a bird as the Sparrow to increase ithout a check of some kind. to its nest for the sustenance of its rs the holes in the pollard and other trees, where we must act the part hitherto performed by these ed with mercy, is, in my opinion, all that is required to ase of the Sparrow, the Rook, and other birds. How shy and vigilant, moment he is watched ! how well does he know, after the first shot, that the gun is a weapon of destruction to him! It is amusing to see the cunning with which of harm’s Way ; is to all other birds : about by a lengthened and ¢ d, neither is he so g olours, particul bill, the Sparrow is no me tions of love, displays himself be with the chestnut of bis droopin streaks of chestnut and black. in every respect, were it not for the males have lighter-coloure The females differ less If we destroy every Hawk that would d natural enemies of the bird. he keeps out his intelligence amazes us, and we say lose proximity to man? aily attired as the Goldfinch ; yet he is adorned with gandsummer. In his nuptial dress, n the male, with exuberant manifesta- ery grey of the lower part of the b f his crown looks like arrow is in his best ; and other impuritie d heads, and the tints of the at the Opposite are like their maternal parent. how superior, in this respect, he an this have been brought The Sparrow is not an elegant bir to ourselves, C many pleasing and harmonized ¢ arly in the seasons of sprin and with a coal-black an-looking bird; and whe fore the female, the sily ack contrasts strongly a coronet, surrounded as it is with and the London birds would be equal S with which they are surrounded. In winter plumage are not so conspicuous and contrasted. seasons than the males ; and the young of the year, of both sexes, g wings, and the grey o In summer the Sp the smoke The nest, when placed among the open br asses wound round arm materials ; house, its not so elegant or complete. The nest garden at Ray Mead ; it is How under a g| inspection of all persons inte l stone-white, Spotted and streake anches of the trees, and round with the g1 when constructe structure, composed of gr IS a very large, warm, and dome-shaped bits of rag, and other w reatest ingenuity, and lined with feathers, d in the hollow of a tree or under the eaves of the represented in the accompanying Plate was taken in a ler a glass shade in the British Museum, and is well worthy of the in bird-architecture. The eggs, which are five or six in number, are d with ash-colour and dark-brown, nts a male, a female, and rested The Plate represe a nest on a branch of the Plane-tree, all of the natural size.