490 



REPTILES AND BIRDS. 



mandibles in some specimens meeting only at the base. The 

 plumage is soft, blended, and glossy. 



The House Sparrow (Passer domesticus. Fig. 208) is among the 

 most interesting of the Passerinae. It abounds all over Europe, from 

 its most southern regions up to extreme north. 



Every one is acquainted with this little bird lively, pert, and 



Fig. 206. Bullfinches. 



Fig. 207. Siskin or Aberdevine 



cunning, the true gamin of the winged race. It lives in flocks in the 

 neighbourhood of dwelling-houses, and even in the heart of large 

 towns ; it is familiar, but its familiarity is circumspect and sly. It 

 haunts our .streets and public places, but is careful to keep at a 

 respectful distance from men and boys. It has a notion that the 

 friendship of the great is dangerous, and its prudence counsels it to 

 avoid intimacies which might have troublesome consequences ; it is 

 only after multitudinous proofs of good faith that the Sparrow will 

 form an unreserved treaty of friendship with man. The sparrow 



