174 The Sparrow. 



sparrow cannot live unless it is associated with 

 man, but nevertheless the country sparrow is 

 wild indeed in comparison with his London 

 cousin, who would, we are convinced, were he 

 but a few sizes larger than he is have the im- 

 pudence to dispute the pavement with all 

 passers-by. 



If any of our readers desire to test the tame- 

 ness and familiarity of the ' ' London sparrow," 

 we advise them to provide themselves with a 

 pocketful of crumbs, and go to some open space 

 say, for example, Palace Yard, Westminster, 

 a place where sparrows largely congregate, and 

 scatter them oil the ground. We doubt if they 

 will not be astonished, not only at the number 

 of sparrows that will in a very few moments 

 assemble round them, but also at the excessive 

 tameness of the birds; they have literally no 

 fear of man ; to them he is not an enemy, but a 

 benefactor; they look to him for food, and have 

 evidently no notion that he could wish to do them 

 harm, not having like their relations in the 

 country any experience of guns, batwing nets, 

 and other devices for their destruction. 



As a fact, no being a boy or a cat always ex- 

 cepted has the least desire to injure a " London 

 sparrow," and our observation leads us to believe 

 that both these enemies are treated with well- 

 merited contempt, their power of mischief being 

 for obvious reasons excessively limited, as the 

 London boy, though thoroughly possessed with 



