PASSERES. ( 160 ) FRINGILLID^. 



THE TKEE SPARROW. 



MOUNTAIN SPARROW. 



Passer montanus. 



The Sparrow chirmis ^ in the tvallis clyft. 



Gavin Douglas, Virgil. 



The Tree Sparrow is found in small numbers round the 

 coast of Berwickshire, at various places between Lamberton 

 and St. Abb's Head, and has likewise been observed in 

 several localities in the interior of the county. Mr. George 

 Bolam records that he saw several pairs, and found three 

 nests with young, at St. Abb's Head, in June 1878, and that 

 about the same time he noticed some birds of this kind at 

 Eeston Station.^ Mr. W. Evans, Edinburgh, has informed 

 me that, on the 22nd of April 1886, he saw a Tree Sparrow 

 on the old tower by the roadside, a little distance to the 

 west of the Pease Bridge, and that, on the 8th of June fol- 

 lowing, he noticed a pair dusting themselves on the bank of 

 the small ravine immediately under the walls of Hutton 

 Hall, on the Whitadder. 



This species has been frequently seen on migration at the 

 Isle of May in spring and autumn.^ 



It places its nest, which is more carefully built and con- 

 tains a less quantity of materials than that of the House 

 Sparrow, in various situations, such as in crevices of rocks ; 

 under the tiles on the roofs of buildings, in holes in trees 



1 Chirps. 2 Jlist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. viii. p. 495. 



3 Reports on the Migration of Birds, 1879-85. 



