72 TREE SPARROW. 



of this untidiness, the larger straws being left hanging 

 carelessly outside, is, that the situation of the nest is betrayed 

 to the prowling bird-nester. The same situation is often again 

 occupied from year to year. 



The eggs, from four to six in number, are of a dull white, 

 speckled all over with light greyish brown of different shades. 



This bird does not vary much in plumage at different 

 seasons of the year, an additional brilliancy in spring being 

 the main feature. Male; weight, about six drachms; length, 

 about five inches and a half, or from that to three quarters ; 

 bill, bluish black and polished in the spring and summer; in 

 the winter black at the tip only, and yellowish towards the 

 base. Iris, dark brown; in front of the eye, between it and 

 the bill, and running through it is a black mark, and underneath 

 a narrow black streak; there is also a large black patch on 

 the side of the head. Head on the crown, chesnut of an 

 opaque shade. Neck on the sides, white, with a triangular- 

 shaped spot of pure black, on the back it is chesnut, spotted 

 with black on its lower part, the inner webs of the feathers 

 being of that colour; nape, chesnut, interrupted by an 

 incomplete band of white; chin and throat, black. Breast, 

 greyish white, tinged on the sides with yellowish brown. 

 Back on the upper part, chesnut with black spots or streaks, 

 the inner webs of the feathers being of that latter colour, 

 and the outer of the former in nearly equal proportion; on 

 the lower part it is yellowish brown. 



The wings extend to within an inch and a half of the end of 

 the tail; greater wing coverts, deep blackish brown, edged with 

 chesnut, white at the end; lesser wing coverts, deep blackish 

 brown edged with chesnut, and some of them white at the 

 end, so that there are thus made two bands of white across 

 the wing; primaries, brownish black, edged on the outside 

 webs with pale yellowish brown, broadening where the web 

 widens, and extending to the shaft at the base, and on the 

 inner ones more broadly with chesnut brown. The first quill 

 leather is the same length as the fifth, the second, third, 

 and fourth nearly equal in length, and the longest in the 

 wing, but the second rather the longest of the three; the 

 secondaries also brownish black, margined in the same way 

 but more widely; tertiaries, brownish black, still more widely 

 edged with chesnut brown. Greater and lesser under wing 

 coverts, pale fawn-colour. The tail is very little forked, the 

 leathers being of nearly equal length; they are greyish 



