PERCHING BIRDS. 113 
in vain, for when found he was still fast, but quite dead, 
having been gored in numerous places by the antlers 
of lis companions. Whether they had done this in hos- 
tility to one who may have rendered himself obnoxious— 
for there is a great spirit of rivalry amongst the bucks— 
or whether the wounds had been inflicted in kind but 
vain endeavours to effect his freedom I know not, but 
I am inclined to think the latter may have been the 
case, and that the friendly spirit had been manifested 
with more zeal and energy than judgment. Had it been 
in the autumn, during the rutting season, when fights are 
constantly occurring between rivals, it would have only 
been natural to refer it to the former cause. 
I have often been amused to see a sparrow take pos- 
session of the nest of a house martin (Hirundo urbica). 
The eaves of a house near my own were always selected 
by the martins year by year for their erection, and rarely 
has a Season passed without one of these aggressions 
occurring, which I have watched from my windows with 
much interest. 
It: always appeared to me that this forcible taking 
possession of their neighbour’s house by the sparrows, 
was never done with the intention of making it their own 
residence, but from sheer mischief, and a desire to tease 
and tantalize the poor martins. These invasions always 
took place when the nest was empty, either before any 
eggs had been laid, or after the young had gained suffi- 
cient strength to take wing. I have watched the spar- 
row sitting quietly on the tiles above the nest, asif he 
was the most innocent creature possible, intent only 
upon his own affairs, and had not the slightest thought 
of intruding upon his neighbours; but the moment he 
became assured that the nest was unoccupied, he flut- 
I 
