Hedgerow Life 
The hedge-sparrows, which have been 
creeping about the ground and hedges 
in their dusky plumage, uttering only 
their monotonous pipe all the winter, 
have been for some time sitting on 
the topmost twigs singing a short but 
pleasing song; and when the leaves 
begin to make a little shelter for them 
they construct a comfortable nest, in 
which they lay the loveliest blue eggs. 
Though this bird is called the hedge- 
sparrow, it isn’t really a sparrow at all. 
Its beak isn’t a hard seed-cracking beak 
like the sparrows’, but soft and pointed 
like the insect-eating birds’, and insects 
are its chief food. I suspect, however, 
it also eats soft seeds when it can get 
them. At any rate, I know that these 
birds can eat canary seed in confinement. 
The brightly coloured titmice are now 
a5) 
