THE sPAunovV. 273 



Fumiliiirily Cunning. 



Jars, and wing-coverts are of a reddish-brown, 

 mixed with black ; the latter is tipped with white, 

 forming a light bar across the wing; the quills 

 are dusky, with reddish edges ; the tail is brown, 

 edged with grey, and a little forked; the legs are 

 pale brown. The female is distinguished from 

 the male, in wanting the black patch on the 

 throat, and in having a light streak behind each 

 eye ; she is also much plainer and duller in her 

 whole plumage. 



This is a familiar bird, but so cunning as not 

 to be easily taken in snares. It frequents our 

 habitations, and is seldom absent from our gar- 

 dens or fields. In a wild state its note is only a 

 chirp: this arises, however, not from want of 

 powers, but from its attending solely to the note 

 of the parent bird. A sparrow, when fledged, 

 was taken from the nest, and educated under 

 a linnet: it also heard by accident a goldfinch; 

 and its song was, in consequence, a mixture 

 of both. 



Sparrows are generally hated by farmers, and, 

 perhaps, unjustly, for though they do some in- 

 jury in their rural economy; they have been 

 fully proved to be much more useful than they 

 are noxious. Mr. Bradley, in his General Trea- 

 tise on Husbandry and Gardening, shews, that a 

 pair of sparrows, during the time they have their 

 young to feed, destroy on an average every 

 week thirty-three thousand and sixty caterpillars. 

 This calculation he found upon actual obser- 



VOL. Ill, NO. XXI. 2 M 



