12 



Where then, ur what tlien, was the Sparrow iu those far 

 remote ages in the history of tiiis earth when man had not learned 

 to build towns and cities ? Were there in the days of pre-historic 

 Man, pre-historic Sparrows also ; and have the latter so far 

 modified their habits that they could not exist if some natural 

 revolution should suldenly arrest the progi'ess of civilization in 

 man, destroy his cities, and throw him back once more into a 

 condition parallel with that of his barbaric ancestors ? You may 

 say these questions are purely speculative ; but, to my mind, they 

 are perfectly legitimate in considering subjects in which the 

 connection between man and a wild bird is so essentially close as 

 is now the case with ]\lan and the House Sparrow. Their solution 

 appears to be impossible unless on the supposition that the 

 Sparrow of the stone age (snpposing there to have been such an 

 almost inconceivable thing) was a very different bird to that of 

 the present day, and that evolution in habits, if not also in 

 structure, must have been unceasingly at work in order to produce 

 such an undisguised little parasite as we now see. 



Now, as to the vexed question as to whether the Sparrow is, 

 or is not, useful to man. For my part I should say the conditions 

 are about equal. No one doubts that he consumes avast quantity 

 of gTain and seeds; but few doubt that he also consumes a multi- 

 tude of noxious insects. There is one period in his annual 

 history iu which he is almost entirely insectivorous: that is when 

 he has young in the nest, or young that have recently left the nest, 

 but cannot cater for themselves. My study looks on to a small 

 garden in which are a few standard roses, which, after the manner 

 of roses, are dreadfully infested by '• Green-fly" (Aphides). At 

 this i^eriod the Sjjarrows come, and gather beaks' -full of Green- 

 fly, which they carry to their ever hungry progeny. At this time 

 the Sparrow's habits are entirely changed, and he becomes a 

 veritable mimic, assuming the character of a Titmouse by creep- 

 ing back-downwai"ds under the coping of walls in search of larvae, 

 spiders, &c.; and so effectually taking the roh of a Fly-catcher, 

 catching insects on the wing, that I have several times been 

 startled by the apparent presence of the latter bird in the most 

 unlikely places (as, for instance, in the heart of the City of 

 London), until undeceived by discovering the true nature of the 

 performer. 



