132 The Hedge-Sparrow. 



assimilating so well with the neat russet and grey of its finely marked though 

 quiet plumage ; retiring, yet not sh}', and, if never quarrelsome, still always 

 ' holding his own,' even with the pert Sparrow and still more saucy Redbreast." 



Air. Stevenson is mistaken in thinking that the Hedge-Sparrow is not 

 quarrelsome ; I have seen it disputing vigorously with a Skylark, in the open, for 

 the possession of an insect, and a hen bird which I kept for several 3-ears in an 

 aviary killed several Titlarks and finally robbed a pair of Yellow-Hammers of 

 their nest, in which she deposited a full clutch of infertile eggs, and sat steadily 

 upon them until, at the end of a fortnight, I removed them. 



Another point in which I differ from this author is, that he speaks of the 

 Accentor as singing as sweetlj' in an aviarj'^ as out of doors. Of the many birds 

 which, from time to time, I have kept, not one ever made the slightest attempt 

 at singing. Since I first published this statement, it has been contradicted by a 

 well-known Aviculturist ; therefore, in the winter of 1905-6, I caught two cocks 

 and one hen of the species ; turned the pair into one aviar}', and the solitary 

 cock into another, and awaited results. Of the pair, the cock was absolutely 

 silent all the summer, but the solitary bird gave one indication of its ability to 

 sing, and only one, about midsummer ; he has been perfectly quiet ever since, 

 though in excellent health. When first caught few birds are more wild, and they 

 show their wildness in an idiotic manner which is simply exasperating, spending 

 the whole da}', excepting when feeding, in flying perpendicularly from the earth to 

 the roof, in one corner of the aviar}-, aud dropping back headlong : sometimes it 

 takes three or four weeks before they abandon this senseless acrobatic performance. 



In a cage the Hedge-Sparrow becomes comparatively tame in a few days ; 

 but then it is far more liable to the distressing ophthalmic disease referred to by 

 Stevenson, than it is in an aviary ; moreover, being extremely restless, it hops 

 incessantly from perch to perch — click-clack, click-clack, "doing the pendulum trick" 

 as I used to say ; a performance most irritating to one's nerves. 



The only sound often heard from va.y Hedge-Sparrows was a sharp and 

 rather short high whistle, which I took to be the call-note ; and, what with their 

 stupidit}', pugnacity,* and sulky silence in captivit}-, this species is, in ni}' 

 opinion, the very worst subject for aviary life. In the garden and the country it 

 is charming ; but, as a pet, contemptible. 



I once tried rearing this species from the nest, but made the mistake of 

 feeding upon hard-boiled egg and sweet biscuit: the young should certainl}- have 

 been fed principally upon moistened ants' cocoons and cut up mealworms, or 

 small caterpillars. 



• One of my males fought a Robin, uutil he became a perfect scarecrow, ami had to be liberateil. 



