BIRDS 



26 5 



and generally with straws dangling loosely down. The eggs are nearly, if not 

 quite, an inch long and two-thirds of an inch across, and vary much in markings 

 even in the same clutch. Although the sparrow chirps and calls, it is incapable of 

 anything that can be described as a song. The disappearance of so many insecti- 

 vorous birds from villages and suburbs is mainly due to the sparrows which mob 

 together to drive them away. Thus the 

 sparrow does injury, not only by its raids 

 on the seeds, but by indirectly encouraging 

 the increase of insects ; and the only way 

 in which it can be made of any use is to 

 defer the destruction of 

 the insect-fed young 

 until they are Hedged. 



A SWALLOW AXD ITS >'EST. 



Swallows. 



Of other birds, only swallows 

 and martins make their homes in 

 human habitations. Many of these settle in 

 towns and villages and fix their nests on the 



walls, while others nest on trees, and in holes in the sides of gravel-pits and 

 railway-cuttings. The majority make nests, which consist of little pellets of 

 clay stuck together by saliva. In flight they somewhat resemble swifts, for 

 which they are often mistaken, and only for a momentary rest do they 

 perch on gables or walls, or trees and telegraph - wires. The}' alight on the 

 ground for the sake of picking up the little lumps of clay of which they 

 build their nest, but move most awkwardly when there, while everything else is 



