TREE SPARROW 



MOUNTAIN SPARROW. 



PLATE LXXXII. 

 Passer montanus, LINNAEUS. 



THE Tree Sparrow is irregularly distributed over Eng- 

 land, being most common in the central and eastern 

 counties. 



Nidification commences in February, and incubation in 

 March, two or three broods being reared in the year. 



The nest is formed of hay, and is lined with wool, 

 down, and feathers. It is loosely put together, and the 

 consequence of this untidiness, the larger straws being left 

 hanging carelessly outside, is that the situation of the nest 

 is betrayed. The same situation is often again occupied 

 from year to year. 



Mr. James Dalton, of Worcester College, Oxford, in- 

 forms me that he has taken the nest of this bird from 

 a Sand Martin's hole, near Buckingham. They build in 

 many various situations, most frequently in a hole of a 

 tree whence their English name either that formed natu- 

 rally by decay, or that in which some other bird, such as 

 the Woodpecker, or one of the species, has previously 

 domiciled ; sometimes also in old nests that had been in- 

 habited by Magpies and Crows ; and in these cases, the 



