40 , BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. vii. 



house of one of Lloyd's Marconi operators. I next 

 retraced my steps to the low-lying part of the island 

 where the cabins are situated, to search for more 

 breeding-sites, and in the broken walls of disused cabins 

 I found some birds already nesting. I spent several 

 hours inspecting groups of sparrows to see if there were 

 any House-Sparrows present. I obtained a negative 

 result ; moreover, during the thirty-two days spent on 

 the island I did not see a single House-Sparrow. 



In their habits these Tree-Sparrows closely resemble 

 the House-Sparrow, showing like the latter a strong 

 predilection to remain in the immediate area of human 

 habitations. No^^' and again a pair or two would fly 

 on to an adjacent rock and often, especially on fine 

 sunny days, the cock-bird treated us to his tuneful Httle 

 song, which he kept up for quite a time. 



Three Merlin ha^\'ks frequented the island, and their 

 appearance in the air, even a long way off, generally 

 caused the sparrows to muster together and immediately 

 seek refuge in crevices in stone- walls, etc. On March 

 28th, the presence of a hawk was the means of affording 

 me the best chance I had of estimating the numbers of 

 Tree-Sparrows at a glance on the Island. The hawk 

 glided past a gap bet^veen two stacks of rock, and while 

 the Tree-Sparrows only caught sight of its form for an 

 instant, this was sufficient to summon them all together 

 from the house-tops. The birds meeting in the air, 

 formed a compact flock, which flew across a ploughed 

 field and disappeared from view by entering a cowshed. 

 The hawk, however, was only a Kestrel and was not 

 looking for the sparrows. Presently the Kestrel went 

 off and I then started to evict the Tree-Sparrows from 

 the cowshed ; as they came out in couples or small 

 parties, I had a splendid opportunity of counting them. 

 When satisfied that I had evicted them all, I found 

 that I had counted thirty-eight birds, and allowing for 

 those which had secured ambush elsewhere, there must 

 have been at least a dozen more. 



