20 THE HEDGE SPARROW 
Sus-Famity ACCENTORINZE 
THE HEDGE SPARROW 
ACCENTOR MODULARIS 
Crown of the head ash colour, with brown streaks ; sides of the neck, throat, 
and breast, bluish grey; bill strong and broad at base; wing-coverts 
and feathers on the back reddish brown, with a tawny spot in the centre ; 
middle wing-coverts tipped with yellowish white; lower tail-coverts 
brown, with a whitish border ; middle of abdomen white. Length five and 
ahalfinches. Eggs greenish blue, without spots. 
INVETERATE custom has so attached the name of Hedge Sparrow 
to this bird, that in spite of all the efforts of ornithologists to con- 
vince the world that it is no sparrow at all (a hard-beaked, grain- 
eating bird), but a true warbler, it is still more frequently called by 
its popular name than by any of those that have been suggested. 
The gentle, innocent, confiding, little brown bird, which creeps 
like a mouse through our garden flower-beds, picks up a meagre 
fare in our roads and lanes, builds its nest in our thorn hedges, and 
though dingy itself, lays such brilliant blue eggs, has been known 
to us from our infancy as a ‘ Hedge Sparrow’, and we decline 
any innovation: the name is a time-honoured one, and no one 
will mistake us. Hedge Accentor, Hedge Warbler, and Shuffle- 
wing, are names open to those who prefer them, but we adhere 
to the old-fashioned designation of Hedge Sparrow. This bird 
is a genuine Warbler, and one of the few belonging to the 
tribe who remain with us all the winter; we should suppose, 
indeed, that he never wandered far from the place of his birth. 
At all seasons his habits and food appear to be the same. All 
day long he is shuffling about on the ground picking up minute 
atoms, whether seeds or insects, who knows? Every day, nearly 
all the year round, he repairs at intervals to the nearest hedge, 
where he sings a song, soft and gentle like himself ; and every even- 
ing, when the Blackbird rings his curfew bell, he fails not to respond 
with his drowsy cheep, cheep, as he repairs to the bush he has 
selected for his night’s rest. Very early in spring, before his brother 
warblers have arrived from the south, he has chosen his mate, 
built his snug nest, and too probably commenced a second; for 
unsuspicious in nature, he does not retire to solitary places for this 
purpose, and the leafless hedges but ill conceal his labours from the 
peering eyes of all-destroying ploughboys. Such are nearly all his 
‘short and simple annals’’. He quarrels with no one, he achieves 
no distinction, throwing no one into ecstasies with his song, and steal- 
ing no one’s fruit ; unobtrusive and innocent, he claims no notice, 
and dreads no resentment ; and so, through all the even tenor of 
his way, he is, without knowing it, the favourite of children, and 
of all the good and gentle. 
