302 SYLVIID^. 



Early in February the male may be beard singing his 

 short and gentle song, which, though sweet in tone, is 

 deficient in variety as well as in power. This song may still 

 be heard throughout the greater part of the year, except a 

 short period in August during the moult. Knapp observes 

 that the Hedge-Sparrow is " a prime favourite. Not in- 

 fluenced by season or caprice to desert us, it lives in our 

 homesteads and our orchards through all the year, our most 

 domestic bird. In the earliest spring it intimates to us by 

 a low and plaintive chirp, and that peculiar shake of wing, 

 which at all times marks this bird, but then is particularly 

 observable, the approach of the breeding season ; for it ap- 

 pears always to live in pairs, feeding and moving in company 

 with each other. It is nearly the first bird that forms a 

 nest ; and this being placed in an almost leafless hedge, with 

 little art displayed in its concealment, generally becomes the 

 booty of every prying boy." 



In a nest thus easily found, the Cuckow is apt to deposit 

 her egg, and Slaney says more Cuckows are fostered by the 

 Hedge-Sparrow than by any other bird ; but this assertion is 

 certainly only true of some localities. 



The eggs of the Hedge- Sparrow are from four to six in 

 number, of a light greenish-blue, without spots, and measure 

 from -83 to '72 by from -59 to -53 in. The nest, built of 

 roots, green moss and wool, and neatly lined with hair, is 

 usually placed low down in a bush and is generally finished 

 early in March. The young are hatched in April, and a 

 second or even a third brood is reared in the season. 



The Hedge- Sparrow goes very far north in summer, as 

 Pastor Sommerfelt believes that he once obtained its eggs in 

 East Finmark, and the Messrs. Godman certainly found a 

 nest at Bodo, in Nordland. It is given by Magnus von Wright 

 as occurring in Finland ; but there is no trace of its further 

 extension in this direction.* Even in North Germany, where, 

 as in most of the countries in which it occurs, it is more or 

 less of a migrant. Dr. Borggreve says it becomes scarce 



* It is represented in Japan by the distinct but nearly -allied ^cccM/or rubidus, 

 which has also been lately obtained in China. 



