may be heard among the undergrowth long after the short winter day has 

 drawn to a close. 



The food of the Hedge-Sparrow is composed of worms, grubs, and insects, 

 sometimes a few small seeds are eaten, particularly in hard weather, when it 

 picks about in the stackyards near the farms. 



It is rather an early breeder, sometimes commencing to build its nest in 

 the first days of April. It is never very far from the ground, and is nearly 

 always very carefully concealed. Perhaps the favourite site is in some thick 

 hedge, where it is carefully protected by the sharp thorns all round ; 

 sometimes it is placed in a thicket of brambles, or in a thick ornamental 

 shrub ; a stack of pea-sticks, a heap of firewood, or an ivy-covered wall is 

 sometimes chosen, and more rarely it is built in some mass of twigs growing 

 out of some tree trunk. I once came across a nest of this species, containing 

 five eggs, on the mossy bottom of a dried-up well, half-way up the Bass 

 Rock. 



The nest is a beautiful little structure ; the outside is built chiefly of 

 green moss strengthened with small twigs and a dead leaf or two ; it is lined 

 with a profusion of wool, hair, and a few feathers. From four to six eggs 

 are laid. They are of a beautiful greenish blue colour, somewhat rough in 

 texture and without markings of any kind ; they are easily to be distinguished 

 from those of the Redstart, which are somewhat lighter in colour and rather 

 glossy. They vary in length from '82 to 74 inch, and in breadth from 

 65 to - 55 inch. Two or three broods appear to be reared in the year, as 

 fresh eggs are often found during the latter half of July. When driven from 

 its nest the Hedge-Sparrow does not go far away, and may be seen hopping 

 about among the twigs only a few feet distant 



60 



