COCK ROBIN'S MURDERER 73 



Indian brethren their manners are marked by dignity 

 and cold reserve." This savours of exaggeration. Under 

 no circumstances whatever can any sparrow be dignified. 

 Add 25 per cent to the impudence, 20 per cent to the 

 rowdyness, and 15 per cent to the vulgarity of the 

 cockney bird, and you will arrive at a tolerably accurate 

 estimate of the character of the sparrow that torments 

 us who live in this Land of Regrets. 



Far be it from me to attempt to whitewash the 

 sparrow. I merely desire to present him in his true 

 colours. This being so, I cannot help saying that the 

 bird is not so black as he is depicted. He possesses 

 the virtues of his class equally with its vices. Like the 

 London cad, the sparrow is ever ready for a fight. He 

 allows himself to be drawn into an affray on the 

 smallest pretext. He is not wanting in pluck, for he 

 does not hesitate to attack a bird several sizes larger 

 than himself This, however, is somewhat discounted 

 by the fact that he is perfectly well aware that, the 

 moment the fight begins, all his companions will come 

 to his assistance. 



Still, the sparrow is a bold bird. His supreme in- 

 difference to the crows is a sufficient proof of this. Nor 

 is he afraid of man. I once stayed in an hotel in India 

 in which a colony of sparrows had taken up their 

 quarters, and enjoyed board and residence free of charge. 

 At meal times ten or twenty of them would take up 

 positions on the ledge of a dormer window and thence 

 swoop down upon the edibles whenever an opportunity 

 presented itself. The sparrow is said to be terribly 

 destructive to crops. So he is, but this is because he is 



