FRINGILLID^. 



205 



him to dTTell in ; only grows corn for him to eat ; only plants trees for 

 him to roost in. The airs he gives himself are amusing ; and you 

 feel inclined to forgive his peculations, out of sheer admiration for the 

 boldness with which he executes the theft. 



With the earliest dawn he is up and doing, and his chirrup arouses 

 you from your slumbers ; but as he has not got to dress, And you have, 

 he is off to inspect your farm-produce before you arc. As he has 

 wings, he visits all your property (not to count your neighbours'), and 

 levies toll where he likes ; and you find him in the evening, when you 

 reach home, tired and footsore, there before you, and with unabated 

 vigour fighting for the snuggest and warmest berth under the eaves, or 

 the cosiest branch upon your pet oak-tree. Well, don't be hard on 

 him ! He will in hia season rid you of thousands of caterpillars and 

 grubs ; and if your " eldest hope " is old enough to begin to shoot, he 

 will do no great harm in thinning their numbers in the autumn, and 

 manufacturing puddings for his brothers and sisters with the bodies of 

 the slain. 



Sparrows build in holes, in walls, or in trees, indiscriminately. If 

 they select the former, they accumulate a lot of sticks as a ground- 

 work, and fill up with straw and feathers. If they build iu^trees, they 

 construct a large ball of straw, and line it with feathers. Their eggs, 

 three to five in number, are light verditer, with brown blotches ; but 

 they vary much in shape and colour. 



409. Passer Simplex, Swain., Nat. Lib., Vol. 11. 

 p. 208 ; p. Oularis, Less. ; Rev. Zool. 1839, p. 45 ; 

 P. Swainsonii, Rupp. Faun., t. 33, f. 2 ; P. Grisea, 

 Lafren. ; Pyrgita Gularis, Less. ; P. Spadicea, Lichfc., 

 Bp. Consp., Vol. 1, p. 510. 



Head and neck, grey ; plumage above, rufous ; beneath 

 whitish ; wings and tail, brown ; stripe under chin, white. 

 Length, 6" ; wing, 3" ; tail, 2". 



Hartlaub (Orn., W. Af., p. 150) gives this species as from South 

 Africa. I have only seen it from Damaraland. 



The Sub-Family, EMBERIZIN.®, or Buntings, 



have the bill conical, acute, compressed, with the culmen more 

 or less straight to the tip ; the lateral margins sinuated, aud 

 more or less inflected ; the interior of the upper mandible 

 furnished with a palatine knob, which is more or less appa- 

 rent ; the wings moderate, and somewhat pointed ; the tarsi 

 about the length of the middle toe, and scutellated ; the hind 

 toe longer than the inner, and robust ; and the claws slender, 

 and more or less curved. 



Genus FRINGILLARIA, Swainson. 

 Bill with upper mandible entire ; wings short ; the primary 

 quills not much longer than the tertials ; tail moderate, either 



