THE TREE SPARROW 



sexes are alike in colour the identification is made all the 

 more easily. The Tree Sparrow, especially in winter, is 

 often found in company with the House Sparrow, notably 

 when hard weather brings it near to houses. Its ordi- 

 nary call-note is a trifle shriller, and during the breeding 

 season its voice is more musical, although it cannot be 

 called a song. At all times it is shyer and warier than its 

 congener. Its food consists of seeds and grain, insects 

 and larvae, and on the latter its young are reared. It is 

 probable that the Tree Sparrow pairs for life, and uses the 

 same nesting-spot for years in succession. It rears several 

 broods in the year, eggs for the first being laid in April, 

 for others as late as July. A hole in a tree or wall, or in a 

 quarry, or even in the deserted nest of a Crow or Magpie, 

 are the favourite sites. The nest may be domed or open, 

 according to the situation in which it is built. It is made 

 of dry grass, straws, and roots, and lined with feathers, 

 wool, and hair. The five or six eggs vary a good deal in 

 colour, but on an average are smaller and darker than 

 those of the House Sparrow, greyish or bluish white in 

 ground colour, spotted and speckled with chocolate- 

 brown, paler brown, and grey. It is not social during 

 the nesting period, but is more or less gregarious during 

 autumn and winter. 



The adult Tree Sparrow is smaller than the House 

 Sparrow. It has the head and nape uniform chestnut- 

 brown, the back brown streaked with black, the rump 

 and upper tail-coverts buffish brown, the ear-coverts black, 

 surrounded with white, and a double white bar across the 

 wings ; the throat and fore-neck are black, the under 

 parts ash-colour. Bill black ; tarsi and toes brown ; irides 

 brown. Length about 54 inches. The female resembles 

 the male in colour, and the nestling is much the same, 

 but a trifle duller. 



161 



