HOUSE-SPARROW. 67 



in the Fylde especially and near Southport, large num- 

 bers are built in trees among the branches, having the 

 entrance-hole sometimes at the top and sometimes at 

 the side. The eggs are very varied in their markings 

 and are from four to six in number, being laid from the 

 end of April to July. As many as three broods will be 

 reared in a season. 



TREE-SPARROW. 



Passer montanus (Linnaeus). 



A resident species, but very local. It is probably 

 commoner in the neighbourhood of Manchester than 

 anywhere else ; breeding there in holes in the trunks of 

 trees, and occupying the same hole j^ear after year, even 

 when buildings have begun to spread. I transcribe 

 some interesting notes furnished to the XatxraUst of 

 1865 by Mr. J. Chappell : he says, " The Tree- Sparrow 

 occurs in the neighbourhood of Manchester, generally 

 building in holes in decayed willow, poplar, and oak 

 trees, near the banks of streams. I have known as many 

 as four or five nests in one tree, and sometimes a nest 

 of the Starling in the same. This season I have 

 noticed the following strange occurrence. A tree having 

 been cut down in which some Tree- Sparrows have been 

 in the habit of building for the last twenty years, a pair 

 have adapted themselves to circumstances, and built a 

 large oval nest in a hawthorn hedge, about twenty yards 

 from the place where the tree stood ; it contained three 

 eggs. I found an old nest of the same description in 

 the same hedge a few yards nearer the tree. I waited 



F 2 



