470 FRINGILLID.E. 



country in the world, as entitled to generic distinction among 

 the Finches, and in continuing to them also the name o? Pas- 

 ser, bestowed upon them by Ray. Their habits, particularly 

 in reference to the situation chosen for the nest, are distinct 

 from those of the Finches generally, and in this circumstance 

 our two native specimens agree more closely than has usually 

 been stated. The Tree Sparrow is an active lively bird, in 

 appearance, and in many of its other peculiarities very simi- 

 lar to the well-known House Sparrow, and for which, I have 

 no doubt, the Tree Sparrow has been often mistaken. It is 

 not so numerous as a species, and much more local in distri- 

 bution ; but small colonies of them are to be found in various 

 counties. In size it is smaller than our Common Sparrow, 

 and is generally described as frequenting trees remote from 

 houses, and building in the holes of decayed pollards. That 

 these are not their universal habits, I learn from the Rev. 

 .Tames F. Dimock, and his brother Mr. George Dimock, of 

 Uppingham in Rutlandshire, to whom I am indebted for the 

 following particulars from their own observation. These birds 

 frequently build in the thatch of a barn, in company with 

 the House Sparrow, not however entering the thatch from the 

 inside of the building like them, but by holes in the outside ; 

 five or six instances of this sort occurred in one building, and 

 one or two pairs built about the farm-house ; to be certain as 

 to the species, some old birds were watched, were shot when 

 quitting their holes, and their eggs taken ; in other instances 

 the young birds were reared from the nest. They also built 

 in the deserted nests of Magpies and Crows, in which they 

 formed domed nests, as does the Common Sparrow, when it 

 builds among the branches of trees, and one pair built in a 

 hole of a tree that had been occupied by a Green Wood- 

 pecker. These different modes of building occur in a coun- 

 try abounding with pollards, ash, and willow trees. Mr. 

 Hoy in a letter to me states, that he has observed on the 



