99 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



THE TREE SPAREOW. 



ICA^N'XOT hL4p thinking, wlien I read of tame Sparrows, 

 tliat the writers are referring to this bird, and not to 

 Passir domesticus : there is a good deal of resemblance between 

 the two species, with this remarkable difference, that the 

 female of the bird under consideration cannot be distinguished 

 from her mate, except by an internal, and consequently post 

 mortem examination, so exactly alike are they in outward 

 appearance. 



The Tree, or Mountain Sparrow, for it is called indiiferently 

 by both names, is the Passer montana of Ray, le Moineau des 

 Jiaies, or le Friqicd of Eaffon, and der Feldsperling of Bech- 

 stein, and is an exceedingly pretty and interesting bird of 

 some five and a half inches in length. The upper part of 

 the head as far as the neck is reddish brown, the cheeks are 

 white with a black spot on each, a white ring surrounds the 

 neck, the back is spotted with red and black, the rump and 

 the lower part of the back are greyish brown, the throat 

 white and the breast ash-coloured; the belly is dusky white, 

 the flight feathers of the wings and the tail dark brown, 

 the lesser wing coverts rusty red, and the greater wing coverts 

 black with red edges and white tips, which form two trans- 

 verse bars on the wings; the beak is dusky, and the feet 

 and legs bluish flesh-coloured. 



The Tree Sparrow is a widely dift'ased, but nowhere a very 

 common bird: unlike its congener it shuns the society of man, 

 preferring woods and fields to the street and farm-yard, wherein 

 the Common Sparrow is so much at home. 



The nest of the Tree Sparrow is usually built in holes of 

 trees, but when placed among the boughs, as it not unfre- 



