TREE-SPAEROW 179 



breeds indiscriminately in boles of trees, or crevices and 

 holes in the sandstone cliffs, &c. 



There is a pair in the Maidstone Museum which were 

 obtained at Hollingbourne in January, 1893, by Colonel 

 Franklyn. 



Dr. A. G. Butler gives the following details of nests of 

 the Tree-Sparrow in Kent : — 



Unusual Nesting-site for the Tree-Sparrow. — " On 

 May 21, 1887, whilst examining some exposed mole- 

 burrows (many of which had been deepened or adopted 

 by Sand-Martins) in a brick-earth cutting at Kemsing, 

 near Sheppey, I observed proofs that one of the larger 

 holes had been taken possession of by some birds ; in 

 fact, at my approach a Tree- Sparrow flew out almost in 

 my face ; on digging away the surface of the earth I 

 exposed a nest lined with white feathers, and containing 

 six perfectly typical eggs. It is well known that Tree- 

 Sparrows in this country usually select pollard willows as 

 nesting sites, the nest being frequently placed in a hole 

 between the young branches of the partly decayed trunk ; 

 I have also found the nest in a hole in a large dead 

 branch which had been cut off near the trunk. 



" The whole of the nests which I have taken in Kent 

 were found in holes in trees within a stone's throw of at 

 least one house, and sometimes at a distance of only a 

 few yards. In Kent I took one nest from a hole in the 

 front of an old oak tree facing the road. The darker and 

 more ruddy eggs are not characteristic of the species, but 

 most of those which I obtained from Kentish nests were 

 of the lighter varieties, though the eggs in a clutch 

 sometimes exhibit considerable modification in this 

 respect." 



