508 Mr. Rennie on the Contrivances 



naire, au sommet des arbres et lorsqu'il batit son nid sous les 

 tuiles ou sous les entablemens des edifices, il se dispense des 

 frais de la calotte, qui serait, dans ce cas, tres-superflue *.' 



The truth seems to be, that the sparrow does not give itself 

 much trouble in selecting its abode, depending on its industry 

 and ingenuity for rendering, by means of a mass of hay and 

 feathers, the bare branch of a tree as warm as a hole in a hay- 

 stack or a burrow of the bank-swallow ; and, accordingly, 

 there may be observed, at least near London, about an equal 

 number of sparrows nestling on trees, and under various sorts 

 of shelter, and not at all, so far as I can perceive, influenced, 

 as White would have it, by cold or warm weather. 



Mr. Leonard Knapp, in conformity with the latter view, 

 gives a very different account of the alleged intelligence of 

 birds, in the instance both of the thrush family (Merulida, 

 VIGORS) and the sparrow. ' Birds/ he says, ' that build early 

 in the spring seem to require warmth arid shelter for their 

 young ; and the blackbird and thrush line their nests with a 

 plaster of loam f , perfectly excluding by these cottage-like 

 walls the keen icy gales of our opening year ; yet, should acci- 

 dent bereave the parents of their first hopes, they will con- 

 struct another, even when summer is far advanced, upon the 

 model of their first erection, and with the same precautions 

 against severe weather, when all necessity for such provision 

 has ceased, and the usual temperature of the season rather 

 requires coolness and a free circulation of air. The house- 

 sparrow,' he adds, ' will commonly build four or five times in 

 the year, and in a variety of situations, under the warm eaves 

 of our houses and our sheds, the branch of the clustered fir, 

 or the thick tall hedge that bounds our garden, &c. ; in all 

 which places, and without the least consideration of site J or 

 season, it will collect a great mass of straw and hay, and 

 gather a profusion of feathers from the poultry yard to line its 

 nest. This cradle for its young, whether under our tiles in 



* Contemplation de la Nature, ch. 28, note 6. 



f This is a mistake: the thrush never uses loam, but forms her plaster of horse or 

 cow-dung and fibres of rotten wood cemented with saliva, as I have proved by 

 examining numerous specimens of the nests. 



I This is at variance with the above extract from Bonnet, as well as with my 

 observation. 



