SPAEROW. / 7 



and anxiety, lest the drama should be incomplete, by the 

 flying away of the mother, and the desertion of the child; 

 but no, Nature's inculcated ways on these points are perfect 

 and all-sufficient, as most beautifully this case proves, for 

 although each new proposal seemed to be blasted in the 

 carrying out, at length the intelligent creature, after con- 

 sidering for a moment, flies away, returns with a stout straw 

 in its beak, and rests for a few seconds on the edge; then 

 conceive my delight, when the little nestling, after a chirp 

 or two from its mother, learning no doubt the particulars 

 of the project, climbs to the farthest end of the bar, next 

 the ground, receives the proffered straw in its beak, and is 

 raised, to my breathless and unspeakable astonishment, to 

 the earth, on which its now delighted mother stands.' 



In the 'Yorkshire Gazette,' of August the 16th., 1851, there 

 is the following account of a Sparrow which had been taken 

 young and kept alive at a house at Ripon: 'It grew ex- 

 ceedingly familiar, following Mrs. Jones or her daughter about 

 the house, perching on their shoulders, and at night taking 

 its rest either on the top of the Canary-bird's cage, or the 

 old clock. Since the present warm weather set in, it has 

 generally taken flight, and remained out all night, but early 

 in the morning it is to be seen ready to enter the house. 

 Should the front door not be open, it flies round to the 

 back one, and if there disappointed, flutters and taps its neb 

 against the window. We are informed that when the doors 

 are open this little bird will visit the house about six times 

 a day for food.' 



Again, in the 'Zoologist,' pages 1298-1299, occurs the fol- 

 lowing, communicated by Mr. George Lawson, of Hawkhill, 

 near Dundee: 'One evening, about eight o'clock, I forget at 

 what season of the year, but it was quite dark, a loud 

 tapping was heard upon the panes of one of the windows of 

 a room in which there was no light. The room was on the 

 first floor of the building. There were but two persons, and 

 both of these ladies, in the house at the time, and they 

 were afraid to enter the room to trace the cause of the 

 annoyance. The window looked into the garden, which lay 

 on the south side of the house; and serious apprehensions of 

 a robbery being entertained, one of the ladies, after locking 

 the door of the room, ventured to enter the garden from 

 the ground floor; but on looking to the window nothing 

 could be discovered; the tapping noise however continued. 



