BIROS BROWN ABOVE AND WHITE BELOW. 65 



HEDGE-SPARROW. Plate 30. 5 i inches. Head, 

 throat, and neck slate-gray, brownish on the crown and 

 nape ; back ruddy-brown, mottled with dark-brown 

 streaks ; wings and tail darker brown ; under parts 

 dull white ; bill dark brown and sharply pointed; legs 

 light brown. Resident 



Eggs. 4-6, uniform bright blue; 78 * -56 inch 

 (plate 124). 



Nest. Of dry grass, moss, and wool, lined with 

 hair, and placed in hedges, close brambles, or in heaps 

 of dead hedge and tree clippings. 



Distribution. General throughout British Isles. 



Observers of birds, new to the pursuit, at times 

 confound the Hedge -Sparrow with the Redbreast, 

 and are puzzled at the absence of the red breast 

 Although called a Sparrow, this bird is in fact quite 

 different from the true Sparrows, which it resembles 

 only in its possession of a ruddy-brown back streaked 

 with black. The bill, slender and sharply pointed, is 

 like that of the Redbreast, and quite unlike the stout, 

 conical bill of the Sparrows. Attention to the colour 

 of the head and neck will determine the Hedge- 

 Sparrow, the bird appearing as if it had been dipped 

 to the shoulders in some smoky-gray solution. It is 

 principally a bird of the hedgerow, in which, or in 

 some low bushy tangle, it builds its nest ; and it is 

 frequently to be seen hopping quietly along at the 

 foot of the hedge, seeking its food on the ground, 

 with a recurring shiver of the wings, which has 

 caused it also to be called ' Shufflewing.' It is a 

 solitary, retiring bird, but being resident throughout 

 the year, appears in our gardens during winter, 



