THE ASTUTE SPARROW 



were no doubt sparrows. In any nook or hole in a wall or 

 under a roof, the hollow of a waterspout, the thatch of a 

 barn, a chimney wherever there is room for its bulky nest, 

 there the sparrow will establish itself with the utmost con- 

 fidence. Often it takes possession of the nest of a house 

 martin after driving away the rightful occupants, though it 

 occasionally suffers for its audacity, for the martins have been 

 known to " make the punishment fit the crime " by walling 

 up the opening of the nest with mud, and thus imprisoning 

 the unwelcome intruder. At other times the sparrow builds 

 in a hollow tree, or in the hole made by a sand martin. The 

 interesting point is that whenever it can find a convenient 

 shelter such as those we have named, whether it be under a 

 roof, in a hollow tree, or in a hole in a sand-bank, the 

 sparrow makes a cup-shaped nest ; it is only when it is placed 

 in an open tree or hedgerow, or in ivy or some other exposed 

 situation, that the nest is spherical. Then it is thickly 

 roofed over with a dense mass of material which effectually 

 protects the interior from rain, and it appears probable that 

 this was the original method of nidification, but that the 

 sparrow found it could save itself a vast amount of trouble 

 and labour by taking advantage of the roofs made by other 

 bipeds, such as men and martins, and very astutely adopted 

 a policy of protection at the expense of others, flourishing 

 exceedingly ever afterwards. 



The nest is, for the size of the bird, a very cumbrous 

 structure; it is made of hay, straw, wool, rags, scraps of 

 paper, or any other dry substance that comes handy, and is, 

 as a rule, lavishly lined with feathers. The sparrow begins 

 housekeeping early in the season ; the first brood is ready to 

 leave the nest in May, and others are produced in the course 

 of a year. Owing to their numbers these birds, which are 

 harmless and pleasant companions in towns, do an immense 



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