TH E HOUSE SPARROW.
Fringilla domestica,
Pyrgita ,,
Passer domesticus,
Fringilla domestica,
Pyrgita ,,
Fringilla ,,
The Sparrow, P enn. Brit. Zool. vol. i. p. 458.
House
The
House
Common
Mont. Ornith. Diet.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 187.
F lem. Brit. An. p. 83.
Selby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 298.
J enyns, Brit. Yert. p. 134.
Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xvi.
Gros-bec moineau, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. vol. i. p. 350.
Of all our British Birds, the Common Sparrow alone is
found throughout the year, whether in country or town, attached
to, and identified with, the habitations of men ; and
such is the confident familiarity obtained by long intercourse,
that from the thatch of the cottage belonging to the peasant,
to the elaborately ornamented architecture of the palace of
the prince, all buildings are alike subject to its intrusion.
The bird, however, that is reared in the smoky city, though
as bold, active, vigilant, and assuming as that to be seen in
the country, affords but a poor example of the colours that
ornament the bird when seen in the cottage garden, or at the
farmer’s barn-door.
Of a species so well known as the Sparrow a very lengthened
notice is not required: the history of the bird in one
country is'equally the detail of its habits in another. This
is certainly the case with our Common House Sparrow, the
geographical range of which, as a species, is very extensive.
Our Sparrow pairs early in the season, and like most of
those birds which are very prolific, great animosity and numerous
contests for choice or possession occur at this season
of the year. There are few persons who have not witnessed in
spring the bustle and confusion attending what appears to be
a sort of battle royal among Sparrows, in which five or six
individuals are seen indiscriminately engaged .attacking, buf-
fetting, and biting each other, with all the clamour and fury
of excited rage ; but the matter in dispute being adjusted,
each retires from the scene of contest to attend to his mate,
and the performance of the more important duties of the
season. Their nests are formed under the eaves of tiles, in
holes or crevices in walls, in the orifices of old water-pipes,
or in any cavity which will afford sufficient space for the
mass . of hay and feathers collected for their dwelling. The
first batch of eggs usually consists of five or six, and two
other sets are frequently produced in the season. The eggs
are white, spotted and streaked with ash-colour and dusky
brown, varying considerably in the quantity of this secondary
colouring matter ; the length of the egg ten lines, the breadth
seven lines.
Occasionally the Sparrow builds among the higher branches