SYLVIADA. 7a 
the “ Hedgesparrow,” is a very unassuming little 
bird—neat, but certainly not gaudy, in plumage. It 
may be seen in every shrubbery and hedge-row in 
the country, and its song heard throughout the 
greater part of the year. In these parts it 1s very 
generally known by the name of ‘‘ Dunnock,” to 
which the term “ Blind” is often prefixed. 
Why the Hedgesparrow is so commonly called the 
* Blind Dunnock” I do not know, unless it be on 
account of its stupid blindness in not distinguishing 
the Cuckoo’s egg when laid in its nest, which is so 
essentially different in colour from its own bright 
blue eggs, and also for its want of discernment in 
nursing up the great overgrown young of that bird, 
while it leaves its own to starve or to be pushed out 
of the nest. Many other birds, however, are equally 
stupid in this respect, but the Hedgesparrow seems 
to have gained a special notoriety even before the 
time of Shakspeare, for he quotes the lines :— 
«“ The Hedgesparrow nursed the Cuckoo so long, 
It had its head bit off by its young.” 
The food of the Hedgesparrow consists prin- 
cipally of insects, such as small beetles, caterpillars 
and flies, and the larve of many insects; in the 
autumn and winter of seeds also, which it picks up 
from the ground: the young birds are said to be in- 
variably fed with insects: how this may be I am not 
sure, but as I have a pair of Hedgesparrows now 
H 3 
