THE WOOD-PIGEON AKD HOUSE-SPARROW. 189 



says : ' It is totally unknown in the Western 

 Hebrides.' We have repeatedly shot it lately 

 in the extreme west of Argyllshire. 



The house-sparrow is so clearly, as the 

 Eev. Mr. Tristram describes him, like the 

 rat, a parasite on man, that no ordinary rules 

 apply to him. His motto may be said to be — 



De I'audace, encore de I'audace, toujours de I'audace. 



He robs the wild beasts of their food in the 

 Zoological Gardens, the poor man's pig and 

 the rich man's pheasants. He will not starve 

 while we have a fowl alive, nor die of cold 

 while there is a warm hayrick in the countr}^ 

 The cat is perhaps his only dangerous enemyy 

 and she makes no impression on his numbers. 



He is about the last bird the so-called 

 sparrow-hawk is hkely to kill often, as he 

 keeps so near our houses. If his numbers^ 

 are to be reduced, man must reduce them 

 himself; but whether he ought to do this is 

 quite a vexed question. 



