THE HOUSE SPARROW pj 



harvest they transfer their attention to the sheaves, while the reapers 

 and binders are occupied elsewhere ; as gleaners they are inde- 

 fatigable ; they participate, too, in the joys of harvest home, 

 for their food is then brought to their very doors. The most 

 skilful binder leaves at least a few ears exposed at the wrong end 

 of the sheaf, and these are searched for diligently in the rick ; 

 and the barns must be well closed indeed into which they cannot 

 find admission. At threshings and winnowings they are constant 

 attendants, feeding among the poultry, and snatching up the 

 scattered grains under the formidable beak of Chanticleer himself. 

 At seed-time their depredations are yet more serious, as they now 

 come in not simply for a share of the produce.but undermine the 

 very foundations of the future crop. I once had the curiosity 

 to examine the crop of a Sparrow which had been shot as it flew 

 up from a newly-sown field, and found no less than forty-two grains 

 of wheat. A writer in the Zoologist, who professes himself a 

 deadly enemy of the Sparrow, states that he once took 180 grains 

 of good wheat from the crops of five birds, giving an average of 

 thirty-six for a meal. Now if Sparrows had the opportunity of 

 feeding on grain all the year round, they would be unmitigated 

 pests, and a war of extermination against them could not be waged 

 too vigorously ; but during the far greater portion of the year 

 they have not the power of doing mischief, and all this time they 

 have to find food for themselves. Against their will, perhaps, 

 they now hunt for the seeds of various weeds, especially the wild 

 mustard ; and these being smaller than grains of corn and less 

 nutritive, they consume an immense number of them, varying then- 

 repast with myriads of caterpillars, wireworms, and other noxious 

 grubs ; also they devour small beetles (called hay-chaffers) when the 

 hay lies in swathes ontthe field. They thus compensate, certainly 

 in part, perhaps wholly, for the mischief they do at other seasons ; 

 and it is even questionable whether, if a balance were struck 

 between them and the agriculturists, the obligation would not be 

 on the side of the latter. 



It is scarcely necessary to say much of the habits of a bird 

 which stands on such familiar terms with the human race as the 

 Sparrow. During no period of the year do Sparrows live together 

 in perfect amity ; if half a dozen descend to pick up a handful of 

 scattered crumbs, each in his turn will peck at any other who comes 

 too near his share of the feast, and, with a peculiar sidelong shuffle 

 or hop, will show his intention of appropriating as large a portion 

 of the feeding-ground as he can. In spring, this bickering assumes 

 a more formidable character. A duel is commenced among the 

 branches of a tree, obstinate and noisy ; all the Sparrows within 

 hearing flock to the scene of combat, joining at first with their 

 voices, and finally with their beaks ; a general riot ensues, with as 

 little object seemingly as an Irish ' row ' ; for suddenly the outcry 



