36 BIRDS OF TRE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



chiefly on seeds of various kinds, though it also eats many 

 insects ; but the young, at first, are fed entirely on the 

 latter, and until they leave the nest and are able to cater 

 for themselves their parents give them little else. The 

 sparrow is often accused of destroying the farmer's corn, 

 and there is no doubt that he does help himself to some, 

 but the damage effected is much less than is often supposed, 

 but even when put to its utmost, the harm he does is more 

 than balanced by the good he effects by the destruction of 

 insects, and the devouring, wholesale, of the seeds of some 

 of our most obnoxious weeds. When it is remembered that 

 it is only during a week or two tliat he visits the corn- 

 fields and does harm, and that during all the rest of the 

 year he is doing positive good to the farmer, his mischief 

 should be condoned. In the garden, too, he is accused of 

 doing an incalculable amount of harm ; but it is easily pre- 

 vented by netting fruit and vegetables, or by supplying the 

 birds with some more readily accessible food. 



Of course where, owing to the destruction, the absolutely 

 senseless destruction, of the minor birds of prey, the 

 sparrows have increased beyond due bounds, their numbers 

 must be reduced by legitimate means; but to compass their 

 extermination, or even wholesale slaughter, is an economical 

 error that is much to be deprecated. 



The nest of the sparrow is variously placed — in holes of 

 trees or of buildiugs, or among the boughs of a tree, or 

 some creeper, such as ivy, growing against a wall. In the 

 first place, the cavity is simply lined with grass stems and 

 feathers, but in every other position the large, clumsy 

 construction is domed. The eggs, which vary from three 

 to five in number, are greyish white, speckled and streaked 

 with brownish grey ; there is usually two broods in the 

 season, but occasionally three. The " observers," who 

 credit these birds with eight or more eggs to the nest, 



