brani.enbukg] OBSER VA TIOXS ON THE ENG I.ISH SPA RRO W 277 



heap of straw placed upon a lump of mud struck in the crotch. 

 There is also a shelter in the Park built with a circular thatched 

 roof. Many sparrows have their nests here. They are simply 

 deep holes in the thatch behind the strong beams. The gardeners 

 have a very busy time repairing the roof. There is a pigeon house 

 on our roof that is raised about a foot from the ground. Under 

 this sparrows have built a nest. It is very unsightly, only a 

 heap of mud with grass strewn on to}). During a quarrel the 

 straw was pushed off the mud, but the sparrows were too lazy 

 to put it back again. 



This is a convenient nest for the sparrows for they can 

 feed on the ground corn, hemp-seed, and wheat that is fed to the 

 pigeons. I sometimes feed them with bread crumbs, oatmeal, 

 and barley. I attracted twenty-five birds at one time. Great 

 numbers of sparrows visit the pigeon-house in the morning 

 when the pigeons are fed. They eat so voraciously that there 

 is hardly anything left for the pigeons. 



The sparrows are great soldiers. They can be combined 

 into a formidable army by a good leader. They did this once 

 when I set the pan of hemp-seed on the ground while the pig- 

 eons gathered round. 



The sparrow r s are fearless and impudent, afraid of nothing. 

 They grab the corn from the pigeon's very mouth, although he 

 is more than three times their size. I wanted to test how tame 

 the sparrows are. They flew into the pan I was holding in my 

 hand, but would not eat from my hand, although I stood very 

 still and made no noise. 



As I said before, the sparrow is afraid of nothing. When 

 a car comes along the sparrow waits until he is only a foot from 

 the fender before he flies away. I noticed a milkman's horse 

 eating his oats one morning. The bag was nearly empty ; the 

 horse was so impatient because lie could not reach the oats that 

 he kicked. But there were sparrows under his feet eating the 

 dropped oats. There is an old lady on our street who puts out 

 part of a loaf of rye bread on the curb every morning for the 

 sparrows. One morning a hungry cat breakfasted on the bread. 

 ( >ne poor sparrow could not stand it. He flew up to a limb on 

 the tree overhead, swooped down and snatched up a crump 

 from under the cat's nose. 



Sparrows are not as a rule quarrelsome except about the 

 matter of food. ( )ne morning as I was feeding the pigeons 

 I dropped a piece of bread about as large as the head of the spar- 



