THE 



HOUSE SPARROW AND TREE SPARROW. 



THE House Sparrow is, strictly speaking, the only bird 

 attendant on man. Though the Robin will frequent 

 our thresholds in winter time, still, when once his accus- 

 tomed food becomes plentiful, he retires to the seclusion 

 of a woodland haunt. Though the Swallows course 

 round our houses in spring and summer, still they show 

 as much attachment to the wild as. man's habitation. 

 Though the Flycatcher will sit in moody silence on 

 the trees bordering our windows, still he loves the forest 

 glades equally as well, or even better. But the House 

 Sparrow, like the Hanoverian rat, finds food and shelter 

 wherever man dwells, and prefers to live in his society 

 far better than in the richest pastures or woodlands. 

 In the crowded streets we see him as much at home as 

 round the country cottage ; amidst the whirl and con- 

 fusion of the railway station he lives as happily as in the 



