102 HEDGE-SPARROW 



colour of the eggs, must also betray them to feathered egg-stealers, 

 such as the various members of the Crow Family. 



It is uncertain to what extent the cock helps the hen in the 

 construction of the nest. Perhaps, as in the case of other species, 

 the share he takes in this and in incubation varies from individual 

 to individual. But, like his mate, he works assiduously to fill with 

 insects the gorgeous orange-red mouths of the nestlings. If these 

 mouths are more closely examined they are worth it, for they are 

 as beautiful in their way as the eggs, and as interesting there will 

 be found at each of the two tips of the forked back extremity of 

 the tongue a small black spot. Such spots are found on the tongues 

 of the young of other species, of the skylark, for instance, which 

 show not two but three, the third being at the tip. The presence 

 of these spots has yet to be satisfactorily explained. 



The nestlings become fledglings in a fortnight, or rather less, 

 and may then be found scattered in the grass, where they call loudly 

 and repeatedly for food, a habit which, though it has the advantage 

 of indicating their whereabouts to their parents, may also bring them 

 .VsK- ; Welcome visitors. I once found a young hedge-sparrow thus 

 4Qt!*&f'te tne e< *g e of a high-road, and he chose rather to resent 



" r . * * * * * r* 



than otherwise my well-meaning efforts to move him to less dangerous 

 quarters. As a second brood is reared by hedge-sparrows, the young 

 of the first must soon be left to their own devices, unless, as in the 

 case of other species, they continue to be fed by the cock while the 

 hen is building the new nest, or repairing the old. 1 



Of the subsequent movements of the young, and the habits of 

 the species between the breeding seasons, little is known. The 

 birds may be seen alone, in pairs, and small parties. The immigrants 

 of the Continental race that appear on our eastern coasts in the 

 autumn have been observed in small flocks of twenty to thirty. 2 But 



1 For evidence that the species may lay more than once in the same nest, see British Birds, 

 iv. 77, and the Bulletin de la Soc. Zool. de France, 1903. 



2 Nelson, Birds of Yorkshire, i. p. 100. See also the " Classified Notes." 



