344 PASSER DOMESTICUS. 



same roosting places. The flocks, on the contrary, are acci- 

 dentally formed by individuals casually meeting with each 

 other, and are liable to be broken up by slight causes. 



Its usual places of resort are those in the immediate vicinity 

 of human habitations ; and at night it reposes under the eaves 

 of houses, about chimneys, in holes and crevices of buildings, 

 and among ivy covering walls. During a great part of the year, 

 it subsists chiefly on the fragments of ejected food which it finds 

 about the doors, on the streets, or on dunghils. But it also 

 feeds upon grain, which it obtains abundantly during several 

 weeks in autumn on the standing corn, and less profusely sup- 

 plied in winter, when it searches the stubble fields. Being 

 extremely numerous in the large towns, it must commit great 

 havock among the corn in their vicinity ; and, in fact, its de- 

 predations on the wheat are often very perceptible in the ear- 

 less stalks which are often very numerous in places not far 

 from towns. The seeds of various plants, such as the field 

 mustard, Sinapis arvensis, the Charlock, Raphanus Raphanis- 

 trum, the Chickweeds and Mouse-ears, Stellaria and Cerastium, 

 as M^ell as of the field and garden Pea, Pisum sativum, are also 

 gathered ; and in summer it subsists partly on insects of vari- 

 ous kinds, Avhich also aflbrd the chief nourishment of its young. 

 Like the Chaffinch, it is often seen searching the heaps of horse- 

 dung on the roads for undigested grains, and like the Common 

 Pigeon, it gleans the nutritious particles to be found on the 

 streets. Farm-yards and corn-stacks are chief places of resort, 

 for there it readily obtains a supply of wholesome food. Occa- 

 sionally it pursues an insect on wing, but it is far from being 

 an expert flycatcher, for I have frequently seen a sparrow make 

 several darts even at so large an insect as a butterfly before it 

 secured it. 



The flight of the Sparrow is of the same general character 

 as that of the Finches ; that is, it is undulated and rapid, but 

 less so than the flight of the Greenfinch or Chafliinch ; and when 

 the bird traverses short spaces, is nearly direct, w4th a conti- 

 nued fluttering motion. On the ground it advances by hops 

 or leaps, varying from half an inch or so to eight or nine 

 inches, according to circumstances. It would be impossible to 



