iC 



84 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Cornwall," p. 56). In parts of the New Forest 

 the Tree-Sparrow is plentiful, and there was a 

 colony for many years at Standlake, in Oxford- 

 shire. Of twenty nests taken there, one was in a 

 faggot-stack, one in a hole of a decayed elm, two 

 in holes of pollard ash, four in holes of pol- 

 lard willow, and twelve in holes in decayed apple 

 trees in orchards. Thompson (" Nat. Hist. Ireland, 

 Birds," i. p. 256) recalls the fact that the Tree- 

 Sparrow is included in Templeton s " Catalogue of 

 Irish Vertebrate Animals" as "a doubtful native," 

 but adds that to his ornithological friends and him- 

 self it is " quite unknown." This was written in 

 1849 ; since that date Mr. Blake Knox (Zool, 1870, 

 p. 2018) has detected it in Ireland, where he says 

 it is known to the bird-catchers, and believed by 

 them to be resident. The nest is said to have 

 been taken near Sandymount, Dublin (A. G. More). 

 In Scotland it is local and rare, but has occurred 

 in Argyllshire, St. Kilda, and Skye (Zool., 1886, 

 p. 366). 



The Tree -Sparrow is now a resident of the 

 United States, having been imported apparently 

 with the House-Sparrow (Field, Feb. 26, 1876). 



HOUSE-SPARROW. Passer domesticus (Linnseus). PL 

 13, figs. 1, 2, Length, 6 in. ; wing, 3 in. ; tarsus, 0*75 in. 



Resident, generally distributed, and common. 

 Breeds in almost every month of the year ; it is 

 not a rare occurrence to find nests and eggs during 

 the winter months. 



