BIKDS FINCHES DIAGRAM 4 77 



The canary came originally from the Canary Islands ; but it is 

 bred in domesticity, and is one of the commonest cage birds in 

 Europe. It is reared for its beautiful yellow colour, and because 

 it readily learns to sing and whistle. 



The sparrow is well known to everybody as a bold, thievish, 

 impudent bird, found both in town and country, and plundering 

 the barns whenever they can get into them. The nests of 

 sparrows are always sufficiently substantial structures, but badly 

 made. They are built on trees or in holes. The question as 

 to the destruction of birds chiefly concerns the sparrow, and it is 

 certain that at seed time and harvest, and also in winter when 

 it has the opportunity, the sparrow eats a great deal of corn. 

 But on the other hand, it rears a numerous family in its nest, 

 and meantime the parents do nothing but go in search of 

 caterpillars and insects to feed their voracious brood. To prove 

 this, it is enough to look at the ground under a sparrow's nest ; 

 it is frequently covered with the heads and wings of insects, 

 which the birds have rejected as too hard for them. In the case 

 of the sparrow, still more than in that of other birds, it ought to 

 be asked if the mischief which it does at some seasons is not 

 really more than compensated by the good done by it at a season 

 of the year when it spends the whole day in destroying the 

 swarms of insects which eat the germs of plants, and the 

 buds of fruit. 



Another familiar bird is the Eobin Redbreast, a bold and 

 quarrelsome bird, which frequents the neighbourhood of houses 

 in winter, in search of food ; and is a great favourite with 

 children. 



