ENGLISH SPARROW 181 



English Sparrow. Passer domesticus 

 6.33 



Ad. $ . — Top of head grayish ; a patch of chestnut on each side 

 of the head ; back brown, streaked with black; wing-bars white; 

 a stripe of chestnut on each wing; throat and upper breast black ; 

 rest of under parts grayish-white. Ad. $> . — Head grayish-brown ; 

 back streaked with black and buff; under parts whitish; breast 

 washed with grayish-brown. 



Nest, either in trees, or in a hole or corner. Eggs, generally 

 white, sometimes brownish, finely speckled with brown or gray. 



The English Sparrow is now a permanent resident of 

 nearly every city, town, and village in New York and New 

 England. Only the wilder or more hilly portions of north- 

 ern New England are still free from its presence. In many 

 suburbs it occupies the boxes and holes which otherwise 

 Bluebirds,. Wrens, and White-bellied Swallows would use. 

 It also annoys Robins by following the parents when they 

 are collecting food for their young and stealing it from out 

 of their bills. At night Sparrows roost in thick trees or 

 vines, and in large cities collect in astonishing numbers in 

 small parks. In the country small flocks often collect in 

 brush-heaps. 



The Sparrow's voice is harsh, and too suggestive of the 

 city to please most ears. Its ordinary note is the well-known 

 eh irp, but it has an astonishingly large number of modifica- 

 tions of this note. In spring, or on warm days in winter, 

 the male utters a cry, like the syllables fee-lee}), with a per- 

 sistence worthy of a better cause. The chunkiness of the 

 Sparrow, the unstreaked dingy-white breast of the female, 

 and the black throat of the male, will serve to identify it to 

 any one who is so fortunate as to be unacquainted with it. 



Purple Finch. Carpodacus purpureus 

 6.22 

 Ad. $ . — Entire body suffused with rose-red, strongest on the 

 head, rump, and throat; back streaked with brownish; belly gray- 



