The Sparrow, as before observed, is seldom seen far from
the habitations of men; but as summer advances, and the
nestlings are able to go abroad, both old and young resort in
flocks to the nearest corn-fields, and feast on the milky grain;
but when the crop is carried, their supply being cut off, they
return to the vicinity of houses, to seek again the adventitious
meal there afforded them.
The House-Sparrow is common over nearly all of the
British Islands, the chief exception being those of the Outer
Hebrides, save Lewis—where, though now abundant, it
seems not to have shewn itself till about 1830, and was not
seen there even in 1842 by James Wilson-and Barra—-where
alone it was observed in 1830 by Macgillivray; but there are
many isolated spots in Scotland * where it is very rare, as
some parts of the Highlands, according to the same
naturalist, or is altogether absent, as the hill-farms in
Ayrshire, according to Mr. Gray. Probably the same might
be said of Ireland, if more were known of the ornithology
of that country, since Lord Clermont, in a note kindly
furnished to the Editor, states that, though common in the
immediate neighbourhood, one pair only (which appeared for
a few days in the spring of 1870) had been seen in the course
of many years about the house, stables and gardens of Kavens-
dale Park near Newry. In Norway it now occurs in most of
the settlements, though missing some of them entirely, along
the coast to the Loffodens and Alten, and is in such places
generally resident; but further to the northward it only
occasionally shews itself, and has not yet made good its footing
either in Yardo or Yadso. In Sweden it follows the settlers
mto the forest-wilds, and the most northern point at present
recorded for it is Karesuando—but this is beyond its ordinary
range, though by 1854 Wolley found that it had established
itself at Muonioniska, not much to the southward. Passing
eastward it seems to be very generally distributed throughout
Finland excepting perhaps its northern parts, and Dr.
* Mr Rowe states that he is informed that at Shepstor, a moorland village in
Devon, the Sparrow ls never seen. This is the sole exception to its universal distribution
m England known to the Editor.
Malmgren reports it as common all the year round at
Kajana. It is abundant at Archangel, and occurs sporadically
in the valley of the Lower Petchora, where, according
to Messrs. Harvie Brown and Seebohm, it is remarkable for
its bright coloration. In Siberia it seems to have followed
the post-roads, but to frequent only the vicinity of the
stations near which corn is grown. Yet its invasion of that
country is of modern date and since the Russian conquest.
In some degree Pallas has traced its gradual progress across
the Asiatic continent where its most northern limit in the
Jenesei-valley is Yorogovo in lat 61° N. and, according to Dr.
Yon Middendorff, its most eastern is the confluence of the
Shilka and Argun. Ornithologists are still divided in
opinion as to whether the Sparrow of India (the P cissbt
indicus of many authors) should be regarded as a distinct
species or not. Mr. Dresser (who has perhaps examined a
larger series of specimens than any one else) believes that
no valid difference can be maintained, and if we follow him
we find that the present bird has a very wide range in Asia,
extending from Yarkand, where Dr. Severzov obtained it, to
Siam and Ceylon—though here as in Europe there are many
localities (not apparently unsuited to it) in which it does not
occur. Returning westward some wide gaps hinder us from
tracing its presumedly continuous range, but it inhabits Beloo-
chistan, Bokhara and Persia, has been sent to the Zoological
Society from Trebizond, and is the common species of the
Levant generally—the neighbourhood of houses being here
as elsewhere always understood. It is resident in the Nile-
valley as high as Kordofan, and is common, though not
universally distributed, in Algeria and Morocco. It also
occurs in Madeira, but apparently not in the other Atlantic
Islands. In the Iberian and Italian peninsulas it is in
some measure replaced by two allied species (the P. hispani-
olensis in the former and the P. italic in the latter), but
throughout the rest of Europe it is almost everywhere
common.*
* Dr. Hartlaub has obligingly communicated the information that until the
last seven or eight years no Sparrows were to be seen within the precincts of the