THE ENGLISH SPARROW 121 



does it leave us in the fall? (It stays all winter.) 

 Most of the other birds have to go south ; how can 

 the English sparrow stay? (It lives upon grains, 

 crumbs, and refuse that it finds in the streets.) 

 Where does it stay during the winter? How does 

 it get about upon the ground? Watch for its tracks 

 in the snow. How does it protect its feet in the cold 

 weather? 



Where does it build its nest? What kind of 

 nest does it make? Of what does it build it? 

 How many eggs does it lay? What color? Which 

 of the parents feeds the young birds, or do both 

 work? Watch each as it brings food to the young, 

 and notice which makes the more ado about it. 

 Notice carefully what is fed to the young. Watch 

 the fledgelings as they leave the nest, and describe 

 what you see. 



Why are there so many more of the English spar- 

 rows than of the songsters we love? [The children 

 will tell how the English sparrows drive the other 

 birds away and take their nesting places from them.] 

 The wrens, bluebirds, and martins all suffer at their 

 hands. Notice, too, how late in the season some of 

 these birds are still building nests, even in cold 

 weather. Sometimes the young are raised and 



