162 LETTERS TO MR. TEGETMEIER [CHAP. xvi. 



subscriptions, whether local or from those who know the 

 desirableness of aiding in the work of endeavouring to save 

 the bread of the people from these feathered robbers, would 

 be money wisely and worthily spent." 



In his little book, "The House Sparrow," 1 Mr. Tegetmeier 

 writes : " There is no species with which Passer domesti- 

 cus is likely to be confounded except the Tree sparrow, 

 P. nwntanus (the only other species indigenous to this 

 country) which is less numerous and which is readily 

 distinguished by its smaller size, being only 5^ instead of 

 6 inches in length, and by its having black patches in the 

 middle of the white feathers on each side on the neck, and 

 two distinct bands of white across the wing in place of one." 



FIG. D. TREE SPARROW, PASSER MONTANUS 



"The so-called Hedge sparrow or Dunnock, Accentor 

 modularis, is wrongly named. It is a purely insect-eating 

 bird, and neither in its structure, habits nor food is it closely 

 related to the House sparrow. It does not occur in large 

 numbers, and is highly beneficial as an insect destroyer."] 



July 10, 1897. 



DEAR MR. TEGETMEIER, Your letter received this 

 morning is a very great pleasure to me in fact, a great relief 

 to my mind, for I was truly sorry to feel I might be trespass- 

 ing on far more authoritative work. I should like to shorten 

 my work if I could, but when we meet, I hope you will 

 set me right as to condensing and all other matters. If 

 we could rout P. domtsticus it would be a national benefit. 

 Much looking forward to our meeting on Tuesday. 



1 The House Sparrow, published by Vinton & Co., at is., contains 

 Miss Ormerod's original leaflet as an appendix. 



