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FARM AND GARDEN 



the cock. By some naturalists the two principal forms, namely, the Spanish and 

 the Italian, are regarded as distinct races. The Spanish race (P. domesticus 

 hispaniolus) is found in Syria and all the countries on the southern shore of the 

 Mediterranean, in Egypt, and throughout the whole of northern Africa, Spain, Sicily, 

 and Sardinia, but not in continental Italy. The Italian race (P. domesticus italiw), 

 on the other hand, inhabits Italy, Sicily, Provence, the Balkan Peninsula, and Asia 

 Minor, and is less different from the typical central European bird than its Spanish 

 relative. The eastern sparrow (P. domesticus indicus) is a smaller and more 







MALE HOUSE-SPARROW. 



richly coloured bird than either of the others. Sparrows may be sought in vain 

 in the solitudes of the forest : they are always in the neighbourhood of human 

 habitations, and in greater numbers where there are hedges or trees close at hand 

 in which they can hide in case of danger. They are resident birds, living in 

 couples in their nests, which are generally not far from one another ; and they feed 

 their young at first on small caterpillars and later on with larger insects, until 

 their beaks are hard enough to deal with seeds. They breed two or three times a 

 year, and make their nests on buildings and trees at a moderate height from the 

 ground; the nest being an untidy collection of sundries, never without feathers 



