TREE-SPARROW 177 



Boosting Habits of the House-Sparroiv. — " Between 

 Eltham and Sidcup, Kent, are some birch-thickets in 

 which Pheasants are preserved. House- Sparrows come 

 from all directions to sleep in these places. They begin 

 to arrive at about 2.30, and, until after four o'clock, they 

 are continually coming in small parties of rarely more 

 than thirty birds, flying high and fast, and seemingly 

 from some distance. On December 29, 1895, I watched 

 from 3.30 till 3.50 — twenty minutes — and counted 453 

 Sparrows, besides a few Greenfinches, descending into 

 a small area some 30 yards square, in one thicket. On 

 another day, while walking 300 yards, I saw 153 Sparrows 

 descend at the same place. They roost in small groups 

 of from thirty to sixty birds, in the upper branches of 

 the birches, many of them being in full view from the 

 road, and all of them directly exposed to any rain that 

 may fall during the night. In winter Sparrows ordinarily 

 sleep either in their nesting-places in walls, on ricks, 

 ivied trees, hedges, &c. I do not know of any British 

 bird smaller than a Starling which ever selects so exposed 

 a dormitory as that above mentioned. In the same 

 district, also, Sparrows sometimes build in elms and 

 other large trees, many of their nests being placed far 

 out on the branches, domed and strong enough to with- 

 stand the winter ; but they are not occupied at that 

 season." — Charles A. Witchell, Sidcup, Kent {Zoologist, 

 1896, p. 77). 



TEEE-SPAKKOW. 



Passer montanus (LinnaBus). S.N., i., p. 324 

 (1766). 



In Kent the Tree-Sparrow appears to keep more to the 

 north-eastern portion of the countv, and even there it is 

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