50 Lloyd's natural history 



a moult. The bill is horny brown in winter and becomes leaden 

 blue in summer. 



Adult Female. — Differs from the male in wanting the black 

 throat and being altogether browner in colour; the back 

 streaked with blackish ; over the eye a pale streak ; rump 

 pale ashy brown ; cheeks dingy brown like the ear- coverts. 

 Total length, 5 - 2 inches; culmen, 045; wing, 30; tail, 22; 

 tarsus, 075 



Young. — Resembles the old female, but is whiter below, 

 especially on the throat. 



Range in Great Britain. — Universally distributed. 



Range outside the British Islands. — Generally throughout Europe, 

 " where grain will grow," as Mr. Howard Saunders puts it. Re- 

 placed in Italy by P. italic?, and in most of the Mediterra- 

 nean countries by P. hispaniolcnsis, though the Common 

 Sparrow is often found in the same districts as the latter 

 species. The Eastern form of the Sparrow, P indicus, is only 

 a smaller and somewhat purer coloured race of our bird, 

 which may thus be said to extend eastwards to India and the 

 neighbourhood of Lake Baikal. The Sparrow has been now 

 introduced into North America, Australia, New Zealand, and 

 other countries, to the detriment and, in some cases, the 

 extinction of the native birds. 



Hahits. — These are too well-known to require a detailed 

 description. Considerable controversy has taken place as to 

 the harm done by the sparrows to the farmers, and on this 

 point a pamphlet by Mr. J. H. Gurney, " On the Misdeeds 

 of the House-Sparrow," may be read with interest, as also an 

 excellent monograph of the species written by Mr. Walter B. 

 Barrows, and published by the United States Department of 

 Ticulture, " especially as to the relations of the Sparrow to 

 iculture." Doubtless during the nesting season the Sparrow 

 largely feeds its young on insects, and we have seen one shot 

 by our friend Major Wardlaw Ramsay, with its crop perfectly 

 full of the Bean Aphis {Aphis rumia's), but at other seasons of 

 the year it is capable of inflicting great damage, from the amount 

 of grain it devours. 



Utti. — A rough structure of grasses and straws, hay, and all 



