176 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



a case of a Eobin that used to sit on a stag's head in 

 the dining-room here and sing whilst breakfast was going 

 on, becoming so friendly at last that one morning he 

 pounced from his ' coigne of vantage ' and seized a pat 

 of butter from my plate, which, however, soon slipped 

 off his beak, much to his astonishment. Well, I must 

 now draw my remarks on this best known of English 

 birds to a conclusion. I much fear, however, that a 

 hard time is coming for the country Sparrow, for he has 

 increased so of late years, and the damage done by him 

 to the cornfields is so great that the farmers, for the 

 sake of their crops, will have to take steps to keep them 

 within reasonable limits." — Herbert Gow Stewart, Hale 

 Park, Kolvenden, Ashford {Zoologist, 1885, p. 307). 



Writing in 1888, Mr. E. Bartlett says: "The back 

 of this Institution (Maidstone Museum) is beautifully 

 covered with ivy, which the Sparrow has taken posses- 

 sion of for years, builds its nest and rears its young in 

 perfect safety ; but by permitting this to go on, I have 

 lost (without thinking about it) a beautiful pink May- 

 tree ; they have by degrees eaten off all the small buds 

 during the winter, thus preventing the tree from throw- 

 ing out a single leaf, and since the dead tree has been 

 removed they have taken to two others close by, which 

 will, I fear, share the same fate as the first, for they 

 make them a perfect feeding ground during the winter. 

 They will even go so far as to have a tremendous family 

 quarrel and flog their lady friends under one's nose, be 

 it summer or in the depth of winter. I have witnessed 

 this quarrel when the snow was 3 inches deep, and the}'' 

 (four in number) appeared more like young rats fighting 

 for the last crust than birds, the snow flying in all 

 directions. 



