68 BIRDS OF LANCASHIRE. 



the return of the birds lest I might confound it with 

 the House- Sparrow, the nest of which it [.sic] greatly 

 resembled : after about an hour's waiting my patience 

 was rewarded by seeing the birds, and one of them 

 entered the nest, so that I was satisfied I had made no 

 mistake." The Tree- Sparrow has been noted as 

 occurring on Chat Moss by several observers from 

 Blackwall downwards, and Mr. C. S. Gregson {Ibis, 1865, 

 A. G. More) says he has taken the nest both near 

 Warrington and Lancaster. Mr. John "Weld has seen 

 several specimens which have been shot near Chipping 

 this last two or three years, but has not discovered their 

 breeding-place, and Lord Lilford informs me he has 

 several times seen it on the Bank Hall estate, near 

 Atherton. Mr. J. B. Hodgkinson saj^s that it still 

 breeds within a short distance of Preston, and Mr. 

 William Garnett is sure it nested in the Hodder valley, 

 near Bashall, shortly before 1880. In winter it is more 

 general, and in hard weather mixes in considerable 

 flocks with other species. Its habits are, however, 

 rather solitary, and Mr. John Hardy says that he has 

 often watched it in winter about a farm with the House- 

 Sparrow and other birds during the day, and at night- 

 fall has seen it leave them, and roost singly among the 

 ivy and twigs growing on the upper parts of the trunks 

 of trees in doughs and small woods. The eggs are 

 smaller than those of the common species, and more 

 uniform in colouring and shape ; the note also is 

 different, being more harsh. 



