All rtghis reset vedPi ■■ [JUNE 1906 



BIRD NOTES: 



THE JOURNAL OF 



THE FOREIGN BIRD CLUB. 



riDemorp m a sparrow. 



By R. H. CI.ARKE, M.A., M.B. 

 The subject of my remarks is an ordinary London 

 cock Sparrow (^Passer domesticus), at present residing 

 with Mr. G. R. Turner, F.R.C.S., Surgeon to St. 

 George's Hospital. Nearly nine years ago, some of 

 Mr. Turner's children were w^alking in Hyde Park 

 with their nurse, and found a little half fledged Spar- 

 row which had fallen out of a nest. They took it 

 home and succeeded in rearing it, and have kept it 

 ever since, and it still enjoys excellent health, though 

 it shows some signs of age. Its head and beak seem 

 to have grown longer ; in fact the bird altogether has 

 lost some of the plumpness and roundness of his 

 earlier days, and in various places his feathers are 

 developing a greyer tinge. The bird was made a great 

 pet of, constantly allowed to fly about the room, and 

 on one occasion at least, finding an open window he 

 flew right away, and his safe return in answer to the 

 unremitting prayers of his young friends had a very 

 stimulating effect upon their faith. Associating en- 

 tirely with human beings from the nest it is not 

 surprising that the bird became wonderfully tame; 

 strangers or people he does not care for he will peck 

 vigorously if their advances are unwelcome, but he 

 never shows the slightest fear, and exhibits unmis- 



