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An English Sparrow [SECOND WEEK 



feathers become brittle and break off, bringing out the true 

 colours and making them clear and brilliant. The waist- 

 coat is brushed until it is black and glossy, the cravat 

 becomes immaculate, and the wristband or wing bar clears 

 up until it is pure white. 



The homes of these sparrows are generally composed 



of a great mass of straw and 

 feathers, with the nest in 

 the centre; but the spotted 

 eggs, perhaps, show that these 

 birds once built open nests, 

 the dots and marks on the 

 eggs being of use in conceal- 

 ing their conspicuous white 

 ground. Something seems 

 already to have hinted to 

 Nature that this protection 

 is no longer necessary, and we often find eggs almost 

 white, like those of woodpeckers and owls, which nest 

 in dark places. 



We have all heard of birds flocking together for some 

 mutual benefit the crows, for instance, which travel 

 every winter day across country to favourite "roosts." 

 In the heart of a city we can often study this same phe- 

 nomenon of birds gathering together in great flocks. In 

 New York City, on One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Street, 

 there stands a tree a solitary reminder of the forest 

 which once covered all this paved land. To this, all winter 

 long, the sparrows begin to flock about four or five o'clock 

 in the afternoon. They come singly and in twos and 



ENGLISH SPARROW 



