THE TREE SPARROW. 



From twig to twig aspiring hop, 

 And struggle for the loftiest top. 

 What you, ye little birds of air, 

 Do you for rank and station care ? 

 What boots it, safe from nightly foe, 

 Which roosts above, and which below ? 

 Forbear the ambitious strife for place, 

 And leave it to our wiser race. 



223 



TREE SPARROW. 



THE TREE SPARROW (Passer montanus), sometimes called 

 the Mountain Sparrow. This species bears a great resem- 

 blance to the common Sparrow, than which it is less in 

 size, being about five inches and two thirds long. The 

 upper part of the head is chestnut red, as is also the back, 

 where, however, it is mixed with black ; the latter colour 

 prevails on a band over the eye, the feathers about the 

 ears, and the throat ; the sides of the neck and collar on 

 the nape are white, of which there are two bands across 

 the wings ; the under parts are whitish. 



Although common on every part of the Continent, from 

 Spain and Italy to the Arctic Circle, this bird is rare in 

 Britain, in the southern parts of which only has it been yet 

 found. Montagu and Selby appear to have been the only 

 English naturalists who have observed its habits, and they 

 give a very brief account of them. The bird, they say, 

 never frequents villages or towns, but is met with about 

 old trees, in the holes of which it forms its nest, which is 



