TREE SPARROW. 543 



abounding with pollards, ash, and willow trees. Mr. Hoy 

 in a letter to me states, that he has observed on the Con- 

 tinent, where this species is rather numerous, that they 

 often build in holes in the tiling of houses, and in stacks 

 of wood-faggots, and M. Vieillot, when noticing these 

 birds in France, says, that they occasionally build their 

 nests in old walls, not many feet above the ground ; and 

 they are also observed to frequent gardens like the com- 

 mon House Sparrow. Their nests are formed of hay, and 

 lined with feathers ; the eggs, from four to six in number, 

 of a dull white, speckled all over with light ash brown ; 

 the length eight lines and a half, by six lines in breadth. 

 The young are supplied with insects and soft vegetables, 

 which are also the principal substances consumed by the 

 old birds during spring and summer, and at other seasons 

 of the year they feed on grain and seeds; both young 

 and old flying in flocks with House Sparrows, Chaffinches, 

 and other Finches, and Buntings, in and about farm-yards, 

 corn-stacks, and any other places likely to supply food. 



The common call-note of the Tree Sparrow is a mono- 

 tonous chirp, not unlike that of the common House Spar- 

 row, but more shrill ; and of its higher powers of song, 

 Mr. Blyth says, that " it consists of a number of these 

 chirps, intermixed with some pleasing notes, delivered in a 

 continuous unbroken strain, sometimes for many minutes 

 together, very loudly, but having a characteristic sparrow- 

 like tone throughout." 



The Tree Sparrow is a rare species in most of the ex- 

 treme southern counties of England, and is not included 

 in some county catalogues of Sussex, Dorsetshire, Devon- 

 shire, or Cornwall ; but Mr. E. H. Rodd, of Penzance, 

 mentions in a private communication, that the Falmouth 

 Museum contains a single specimen. It is not uncommon 

 in Shropshire, as I learn from Robert Slaney, Esq., M.P., 



