286 THE USEFUL BIRDS 



THE HOUSE SPARROW, 



Passer doiuesticiis, Macg. 



The European Sparrow, a member of the Finch family, is 

 very widely distributed across our planet. Where grain will 

 grow and wdiere white men go it seems to follow. Essentially 

 it is a bird of temperate regions, but as a colonizer the people 

 of Australia and America know quite well its quality. Had 

 the Hedge Sparrow of England been imported the blessing of 

 birds with beaks purely insect- eating would have come with 

 it. The misfortune is that each species in size and plumage 

 is much alike. The important difference lies marked upon 

 the beak formation — one being strongly made, for seed ; the 

 other slightly built, for soft- bodied insects. The want of 

 knowledge of so small a difference has already cost us millions 

 of pounds sterling. 



In our midst we have both House and Tree Sparrows. The 

 male of the House Sparrow has a crown uniform ashy-grey, 

 with the sides of the neck a deep chestnut. In winter the 

 plumage is duller, owing to the ashy-brown margins with which 

 the feathers are supplied. These edges in a few days wear 

 away, and without a moult give the full summer plumage. His 

 modest mate differs in wanting the black throat, and in being 

 browner. The young resemble the mother, which is whiter 

 upon the lower surface of the body. 



On the misdeeds of the House Sparrow one scarcely needs 

 to dwell. As agriculturists for profit we find they continually 

 take part in our monetary transactions. Still the bird is not 

 altogether an unmixed blessing, according to the evidence* of 

 Dr. Eleanor Ormerod before a Royal Commission in Great 



* Consult " The Relation of the Sparrow to Agriculture," W. B. 

 Barrows, U.S. Department of Agriculture. 



