THE COMMON SPARROW. . 149 



We have no bird, I believe, more generally known, 

 thought of, or mentioned with greater indifference, per- 

 haps contempt, than the common sparrow (fringilla tfo- 

 mestica), " that sitteth alone on the house-top;" yet it 

 is an animal that nature seems to have endowed with 

 peculiar characteristics, having ordained for it a very 

 marked provision, manifested in its increase and main- 

 tenance, notwithstanding the hostile attacks to which it 

 is exposed. A dispensation that exists throughout 

 creation is brought more immediately to our notice by 

 the domestic habits of this bird. The natural tendency 

 that the sparrow has to increase will often enable one 

 pair of birds to bring up fourteen or more young ones 

 in the season. They build in places of perfect security 

 from the plunder of larger birds and vermin. Their 

 art and ingenuity in commonly attaching their nests be- 

 neath that of the rook, high in the elm, a bird whose 

 habits are perfectly dissimilar, and with which they 

 have no association whatever, making use of their 

 structure only for a defence to which no other bird re- 

 sorts, manifest their anxiety and contrivance for the 

 safety of their broods. With peculiar perseverance and 

 bohfness, they forage and provide for themselves and 

 their offspring ; will filch grain from the trough of the 

 pig, or contend for its food with the gigantic turkey ; 

 and, if scared away, their fears are those of a moment, 

 as they quickly return to their plunder ; and they roost 

 protected from all the injuries of weather. These cir- 

 cumstances tend greatly to increase the race, and in 

 some seasons their numbers in our corn-fields towards 

 autumn are prodigious ; and did not events counteract 

 the increase of this army of plunderers, the larger por- 

 tion of our bread corn would be consumed by them. 

 But their reduction is as rapidly accomplished as their 

 increase, their love of association bringing upon them 

 a destruction, which a contrary habit would not tempt. 

 They roost in troops in our ricks, in the ivy on the wall, 

 &c., and are captured by the net : they cluster on the 

 bush, or crowd on the chaff by the barn-door, and are 

 shot by dozens at a time, or will rush in numbers, one 

 following another, into the trap. These and various 



