THE SPARROW IN EUROPE. 19 



as the sow-thistle, groundsel, and the dandelion, which 

 are classed among useless weeds, are eaten with avidity. 

 The common white butterfly, whose larvae are so noxious 

 to the cabbage and other garden plants, is chased and 

 killed in vast numbers. While feeding, these birds 

 delight in company, and bands of variable numbers 

 may be observed "all fluttering, and chirping, and peck- 

 ing, and scolding, and occasionally fighting with amusing 

 pertness." 



A little incident of Mr. Wood's boryhood days is 

 deserving of mention. So closely do these birds cluster, 

 that the latter, when a boy, often amused himself by 

 shooting them with sixpenny toy cannons, after attract- 

 ing them to a small heap of oats which he had purposely 

 thrown upon the stable floor; by thrusting the muzzles 

 of his miniature guns through holes bored into the door, 

 lie was able to accomplish a due amount of destruction. 



That the sparrow, even in JSurope, is destructive to 

 crops, is proved by the concurrent testimony of nume- 

 rous writers. Mr. William Thompson, the author of 

 " The Natural History of Ireland," says, in volume I. of 

 that work, — 



"In our garden, these birds were for a number of 

 years very destructive to young peas, almost living upon 

 and amongst them, perching on the pea-rod, and with 

 their strong bills breaking through the pods to get at 

 the peas, which they ate just when in perfection for the 

 table. 



"The proprietor of the nearest fields of grain to Bel- 

 fast, in one direction (about a mile distant), complains 

 loudly against hosts of town sparrows attacking his 

 ripening crops. They go there early in the morning, 



