350 PASSER DOMESTICUS. 



the wings and back become bright chestnut, and the bar on 

 the former is ])ure white, 



Remarks. — The common House Sparrow, according to M. 

 Temminck, is generally distributed over Europe, excepting in 

 the south, where its place is occupied by the Brown-headed 

 Sparrow, Passer cisalpimis^ and the Spanish Sparrow, Passer 

 Hispaniolensis. In Britain it occurs in all the cultivated dis- 

 tricts, being chiefly resident in towns and villages. It is sin- 

 gular that in the Outer Hebrides it was, until of late, to be 

 seen only at Kilbar, in the island of Barray, where it had made 

 its abode in a ruined church, although now, according to the 

 minister of Stornoway, a few individuals have appeared in 

 that town, w^here they will doubtless speedily multiply. A 

 village without sparrows has as desolate an aspect as a house 

 without children ; but, fortunately for the world, the one is 

 nearly as rare as the other. Multitudes of these birds in a 

 place are indicative of its prosperity, for where there are few 

 crumbs there will be few beggars. 



This bird I have assumed as in a manner tj^ical of the family 

 to which it belongs. Its bill is intermediate in form between 

 that of the Bullfinches and the Thistlefinches, and its other 

 organs have similar relations, while it is a species at least as 

 generally known as any that can be named. 



