SPABROW. 83 



after the time when the young birds ought naturally to have 

 taken flight. This unusual circumstance continued through- 

 out the year; and in the winter, a gentleman who all along 

 observed them, determined on finding out the cause. He 

 therefore placed a ladder, and, on mounting, found one of 

 the young ones detained a prisoner by means of a string or 

 scrap of worsted, which formed part of the nest, having 

 become accidentally twisted round its leg. Being thus 

 disabled from procuring its own living, it had been fed by 

 the continued exertions of the parents. 



The flight of the Sparrow is undulated and rather rapid, 

 but if only made for a short distance, nearly direct with a 

 continued fluttering motion. On the ground, it advances by 

 hops and leaps, both long and short. 



The food of the well-known bird before us consists of 

 insects, grain, and seeds, as also indeed of almost anything 

 eatable that comes in its way; sometimes it pursues a butterfly 

 or other insect on the wing, but it is not very expert as a 

 flycatcher. It may be seen in menageries fearlessly feeding 

 among birds and beasts of all possible descriptions. It feeds 

 its young for a time with soft fruits, young vegetables, and 

 insects, particularly caterpillars. It is itself good eating. 



Much has been written on the question of the compara- 

 tive usefulness, or the contrary, of the Sparrow, as a de- 

 vourer of the former-named food on the one hand, or of the 

 latter on the other; and much I suppose one may allow is 

 to be said on each side of the question, as so much has 

 been said: but there can I think be no doubt that the harm 

 they may do, even granting it to be considerable, is com- 

 pensated, and more than compensated by that which they 

 prevent. Mr. John Hawley, of Doncaster, has sensibly 

 argued the question in the 'Zoologist,' and thus states 

 the case at page 2349: 'I have watched pairs of Sparrows 

 repeatedly feeding their young, and have found that they 

 bring food to the nest once in ten minutes, during at least 

 six hours of the twenty-four, and that each time from two 

 to six caterpillars are brought every naturalist will know 

 this to be under the mark. Now, suppose the 'three thousand 

 five hundred Sparrows' destroyed by the 'Association for 

 killing Sparrows,' were to have been alive the next spring, 

 each pair to have built a nest, and reared successive broods 

 of young, during three months, we have, at the rate of 

 two hundred and fifty-two thousand per day, the enormous 



