FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 187 



THE SPARROWS. 



These form a natural group with well-defined charac- 

 teristics. Two species are found in Britain, namely our 

 household friend the Common Sparrow, and the Tree 

 Sparrow, which bears considerable outward likeness to our 

 familiar acquaintance of the house-tops and the streets, 

 but also differs from it in several respects. 



The food of Sparrows, when adult, consists of seeds 

 (mostly of weeds) and insects in about equal proportions, 

 but the young, at least while in the nest, are fed almost 

 exclusively on the latter. 



That they consume some unripe corn and garden 

 produce is undoubted, but if the amount of good they do 

 by devouring quantities of noxious insects and the seeds 

 of troublesome seeds be taken into account, it will be 

 found that the balance is not only more nearly adjusted 

 between benefit and wrong than is often alleged against 

 them, but that it actually inclines a long way in favour 

 of the Sparrow. 



When hand-reared from the nest one of these birds will 

 become delightfully tame and make a charming pet, but 

 it has a love for the comfortable, and, hiding away in 

 corners of chairs and sofas, is sometimes sat on unawares 

 and smothered, poor little thing! 



It has been noticed that the young Sparrows fledge 

 badly in seasons that are unproductive of insects, owing 

 to the weather being either too dry or too cold, and many 

 of them perish prematurely. 



The Common Sparrow. 



Not much space need be devoted here to the Common 

 Sparrow, which differs considerably from the Tree Sparrow, 

 especially as the male has a black throat and the female 

 is so totally unlike 'her mate. 



The nest, a slovenly affair, is built in holes of all 

 kinds, or of hay and feathers among the boughs at the 

 top of a tree ; in the latter case it is domed. 



This bird has been credited with wonderful prolificacy, 

 but as a rule, the number of young to a nest does not 



