^ THE THRUSH. 17 



sparrow alone upon the hoii.sc-top." The Hebrew 

 word which our translators liave here rendered 

 " sparrow," includes many insectivorous and fruit- 

 eating birds, and amonp^ them, all the thrushes 

 of Euro])e. It is most unlikely that the span-ow 

 should have Ijcen intended in the passage, because, 

 as every observer of nature knows, no bird is 

 more social in its habits than the house-sparrow ; 

 and though it may be seen in numbers sitting on 

 the house-top, yet one rarely sees a lonely sparrow 

 there. ^Ir. Waterton, who had ])<>iidered on this, 

 has concluded that the bird alluded to is the 

 Passer solitarius, in English "the solitary spar- 

 row," and in Italian Passera soUtaria, which he 

 says is a " real thrush in size, in shape, in liabit, 

 and in song, with this difference, that it is remark- 

 able throughout all the East for sitting solitary 

 on the habitations of man." 



'• Tlie lirst time,' says this writer, '* that I ever 

 saw this lonely plaintive songster, was in going to 

 hear mass in the magnificent church of the Jesuits, 

 at Rome. The dawn was just appearing, and 

 the bird passed over my head, in its transit from 

 the roof of the Palace Odescalchi, to the belfry of 

 the chui-ch of the twelve apostles, singing as it 

 C 



