96 THE ENGLISH SPARROW. 
distance of the original singer plus that of the Finch, so that the result was 
not a little confusing, tho very delightful when explained. 
During courtship this Finch will execute an aerial song-dance, consisting 
of sundry jerks and crazy antics, interspersed with a medley of ecstatic notes; 
at the conclusion of which he will make a suggestive dive at his fianceé, who 
meanwhile has been poking fun at him. 
For some reason nests have been exceedingly hard to find. Many birds 
are always pottering about with no apparent concern for nesting time, and 
Mr. Bowles hazards that they do not mate until the third year. Apropos of 
this, one remarks the scarcity of highly plumaged males at all seasons. I 
have gone six months at a time, where Finches were not uncommon, without 
seeing a single red bird. In fact, I never found the latter common except in 
the vicinity of Tacoma. 
Nests are placed, preferably, near water, in evergreen or deciduous trees, 
and at heights varying from six to forty feet. They usually occur on a bough 
at some distance from the trunk of a supporting tree, seldom or never being 
found in a crotch. Composed externally of fir twigs, they are lined copiously 
with green moss, horse-hair, and string, and contain four or five handsome 
blue-green eggs, spotted and dashed with violet and black. 
Two broods are probably brought off in a season, the first about the 
2zoth of May and the second a month later. A sitting female outdoes a 
Siskin in her devotion to duty, and not infrequently requires to be lifted 
from her eggs. ‘The male trusts everything to his wife upon these occasions, 
but is on hand to do his share of the work when it comes to feeding the babies. 
No. 35. 
ENGLISH SPARROW. 
INTRODUCED. Passer domesticus (Linn.). 
Synonyms.—Housrt Sparrow. Domestic SpArRow. HoopiumM. 
Description.—Adult male: Above ashy gray; middle of back and scapulars 
heavily streaked with black and bay; tail dusky; a chestnut patch behind eye 
spreading on shoulders; lesser wing-coverts chestnut; middle coverts bordered 
with white, forming a conspicuous white bar during flight; remainder of wing 
dusky with bay edging; below ashy gray or dirty white; a black throat-patch 
continuous with lores and fore-breast; bill and feet horn color. Adult female: 
Brownish rather than gray above; bay edging lighter; no chestnut, unmarked 
below. Length 5.50-6.25 (139.7-158.8) ; wing 3.00 (76.2); tail 2.20 (55.9) ; 
bill .50 (12.7). Sexes of about equal size. 
Recognition Marks.—‘Sparrow size,” black throat and breast of male; 
female obscure brownish and gray. 
Nesting.—Nest: a globular mass of grass, weeds and trash, heavily lined 
with feathers, placed in tree and with entrance in side; or else heavily lined 
