74 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Utility Nests Egg. 



vation. He discovered that the two parents car- 

 ried to the nest forty caterpillars in an hour. He 

 supposed the sparrows to enter the nest only dur- 

 ing twelve hours each day, which would cause a 

 daily consumption of four hundred and eighty 

 caterpillars. This sum gives thirty-three thou- 

 sand and sixty caterpillars extirpated weekly from 

 a garden. But the utility of these birds is not 

 limited to this circumstance alone; for they like- 

 wise feed their young with butterflies and other 

 winged insects, each of which, if not destroyed 

 in this manner, would be the parent of hundred* 

 of caterpillars. 



These birds build early in the spring; gene- 

 rally forming their nests under the eaves of 

 houses, and in holes in the walls. When such 

 convenient situations are not to be had, they 

 build in the trees a nest bigger than a man's 

 head, with an opening like a mouth at the side, 

 resembling that of a magpie, except that it is 

 formed of straw and hay, and lined with feathers, 

 and so nicely managed, as to be a defence both 

 against wind and rain. They likewise form their 

 .nests in the bottoms of rooks' nests; and this 

 seems a favourite situation with them. The fe- 

 male lays five or six eggs, of a reddish-white co- 

 lour, spotted with brown ; she has generally three 

 broods in the year, from whence the multiplica- 

 tion of the species must be immense. 



A pleasing anecdote, illustrative of the affec- 

 tion of these birds towards their young is related 



