TREE SPARROW. 179 



some districts it is now quite common and nests in large 

 colonies. In the south of the West Riding it is somewhat 

 rare, abundant in the south-west and towards the central 

 portions, and very scarce in the north-west ; it is not 

 uncommon, though local still, in the lower portions of the 

 valleys of the Nidd and Wharfe, and the northern parts of 

 the Riding. In the North Riding, in the neighbourhood of 

 York, it is a plentiful species, as also near Thirsk, Pickering, 

 Bedale, Northallerton, and in Swaledale and Teesdale. In 

 Cleveland it is not very plentiful, and the same remark 

 applies to the Whitby and Scarborough localities. It is fairly 

 numerous in some parts of the East Riding, as at Flam- 

 borough and Bempton, Lowthorpe, Beverley, and other places 

 in Holderness. 



Large flocks of immigrants arrive on the coast in autumn, 

 at the time when the Greenfinches are migrating, but as a 

 rule not often to the north of Flamborough. The Migration 

 Reports contain only two references to its occurrence at 

 this season, at stations north of that headland, viz., in 1884, 

 on the 9th September, " One at Whitby L.H.," and in 1887, 

 on October the 2nd, " One at the Tees L.V." A return passage 

 is sometimes observed in early spring. 



In winter the Tree Sparrow often frequents the stack- 

 yards and feeds in company with Finches and other small 

 passerine birds. Up to i860 great numbers were caught 

 at these times in traps and sold to the constable at Linton-on- 

 Ouse for a half-penny each {Zool. 1861, p. 7818). In some 

 localities it does not belie its name and builds in pollard 

 and decayed trees and bushes, though it departs from this 

 habit, in many instances adapting itself to its surroundings, 

 and chooses other sites for its nest ; in the Aire valley it 

 selects crevices in canal bridges ; near Wakefield, stone 

 quarries ; at Wilstrop it prefers holes in walls and in stacks ; 

 near Northallerton a colony nested in the thatched roof of 

 a farm outbuilding ; at Beverley the nest has been found 

 in the burrows of Sand Martins, and commonly in chalk pits 

 and pollard willows away from human habitations, where 

 its sharp chirruping cry cannot be mistaken ; and at 



