150 THE COMMON SPARROW. 



other engines of destruction so reduce them in the 

 winter season, that the swarms of autumn gradually di- 

 minish, till their numbers in spring are in no way re- 

 markable. I have called them plunderers, and they 

 are so; they are benefactors likewise, seeming to be 

 appointed by nature as one of the agents for keeping 

 from undue increase another race of creatures, and by 

 their prolificacy they accomplish it. In spring and the 

 early part of the summer, before the corn becomes ripe, 

 they are insectivorous, and their constantly increasing 

 families require an unceasing supply of food. We see 

 them every minute of the day in continual progress, 

 flying from the nest for a supply, and returning on rapid 

 wing with a grub, a caterpillar, or some reptile ; and 

 the numbers captured by them in the course of these 

 travels are incredibly numerous, keeping under the in- 

 crease of these races, and making ample restitution for 

 their plunderings and thefts. When the insect race 

 becomes scarce, the corn and seeds of various kinds are 

 ready ; their appetite changes, and they feed on these 

 with undiminished enjoyment. 



We have scarcely another bird, the appetite of which 

 is so accommodating in all respects as that of the house 

 sparrow. It is, I believe, the only bird that is a volun- 

 tary inhabitant with man, lives in his society, and is 

 his constant attendant, following him wherever he fixes 

 his residence. It becomes immediately an inhabitant 

 of the new farm-house, in a lonely place or recent in- 

 closure, or even in an island, will accompany him into 

 the crowded city, and build and feed there in content, 

 unmindful of the noise, the smoke of the furnace, or 

 the steam-engine, where even the swallow and the mar- 

 ten, that flock around him in the country, are scared 

 by the tumult, and leave him : but the sparrow, though 

 begrimed with soot, does not forsake him ; feeds on his 

 food, rice, potatoes, or almost any other extraneous sub- 

 stance he may find in the street ; looks to him for his 

 support, and is maintained almost entirely by the in- 

 dustry and providence of man. It is not known in a 

 solitary and independent state. 



Though I remember no bird so peculiarly associated 



